Cum Laude

The year is 1992 and Dexter College, a small liberal-arts university in fictional Home, Maine, has just admitted a group of freshman students who will cause drama both for themselves and the sheltered town in which theyre living. Theres Shipleyblond and beautiful, the object of affection, envy, and more than a little lust. Determined to assert herself and to shed her good girl image, she buys cigarettes and condoms just because thats what every self-respecting college girl does. There's also Eliza, Shipley's roommate, who came to college to get noticed and has an edgy attitude to match. Then theres Tom. Handsome, privileged, used to getting his own way, hes just biding his time until he can work for his fathers firm. Nick, his roommate, is a sensitive young man who wants to follow in the footsteps of his boarding room hero. Rounding out the group are Adam Gatz, a freckle-faced farm-boy who lives at home with his parents, and his little sister Tragedy, who does all she can to stophim from being a wuss.As Shipley, Eliza, Tom, Nick, and Adam find out, that first year of college is more than credits and cramming, its a time of shifting alliances, unrequited crushes, and coming of age. Find Yourself, 'is Dexters motto. And these young people are determined to do just that. Cum Laude is a witty and intimate look at a group of young people on the threshold of adulthood. It's von Ziegesars first departure from young adult writing, and the novel is written with her signature style in terms of grabbing readers' attention right at the beginning, and taking them for an incredible ride. Gossip Girl has captured a huge audience of millions of rabid fans, both in the book series and on television, and her first adult novel will capitalize on that following.