This novel could easily be classified as young adult, with the possible exception of a couple of rather steamy scenes. Set in suburban Baltimore in 1975, it is the coming-of-age story of Mary Jane, the 14-year-old only child of stolid middle-class parents, who actually more typify the 1950s. Father goes to work, reads the newspaper at meals, and has little interaction with his wife or child beyond going to church on Sundays. When a local psychiatrist and his wife need a temporary nanny for their precocious 5-year-old daughter, Izzy, Mary Jane leaps at the chance to have a more interesting summer than helping her mom cook, clean, and garden. As it turns out, the Cone household is the diametric opposite of her home, with disorderly chaos, dinners at quick food restaurants, and a degree of freedom that is totally unfamiliar to Mary Jane. There is also love, family fun, warmth, and a live-in incognito, famous couple. Sheba, loosely based on Cher it seems, and Jimmy, her husband, are rock legends. Mary Jane has been raised on hymns and Broadway soundtracks, but she also has a very fine natural voice. Soon they are singing around the house together while Mary Jane entertains Izzy, organizes the chaos, and cooks the type of nutritious and well-balanced meals she’s learned at her mother’s knee. In turn, the Cone household opens her eyes to other ways to live, and to the repressed and bigoted ideas her parents have. But there’s a dark reason why the celebrities are there. Dr. Cone has given up his usual practice for the summer to concentrate on getting and keeping Jimmy off heroin. They are all rather amused that Mary Jane has no idea that her name is slang for marijuana, which they all use and seem to think is a viable alternative to Jimmy’s hard drug addiction. When sober, he is charismatic and irresistible, and soon both Mrs. Cone, who has a free, hippie attitude towards life, and Mary Jane are very attracted to him, as is a neighbor who has figured out who they are. A memorable summer. 314 pp.
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