"I made up the name that everyone calls me. I made it up because I didn't like the name Mama gave me when I was born when no one could ask me what I wanted to be called. So I'm called, because I say so, Scags."
So begins the revolutionary Scags Series, which spans a woman's life from age 7 to 45, organized around the seasons of a year.
The first volume, Scags at 7, is told from the point of view of the 7-year-old Scags who has begun to understand that the much beloved Pops and the overshadowed Mama are not the people who can protect her from the world. Living in a very protected and safe environment of Skokie, Illinois in 1958 is not a bulwark against the turmoil of family life which for a 7 year old is the world.
Begin the journey of Scags, a young woman who is as different sounding as her name.
Scags sounds like a car horn beeping once to say hello, like a leap into dry leaves all raked up in a pile, or like the sound a dog makes, his claws racing on the sidewalk when his owner lets him off the leash."
The Scags Series
Volume One: Scags at 7
Volume Two: Scags at 18
Volume 3: Scags at 30
Volume 4: Scags at 45
"Deborah Emin has the uncanny ability to capture the voice of a seven year old girl.... Scags is an intelligent, curious and captivating character." - Supr, Goodreads
"I re-read this book, as I will with Scags at 18, because I want them to be fresher in my mind." -Julia, Goodreads