Drugs and teenage angst takes toll in small town Arkansas

The Forgotten Girls by Monica Potts, Penguin Random House, $40 .. .. .. ..

.. .. .. Monica Potts is a senior reporter for the website Fifty Thirty Eight. She has had her work published in the New York Times and has been a senior writer with American Prospect magazine.

Here, she has written something different, both a memoir and almost a research paper around two girls growing up in in the foothills of the Ozark. Both girls are gifted and both have high expectations for themselves originally, but one leaves and becomes a successful journalist, the other stays and becomes a meth victim.

Working as a journalist covering poverty issues, Monica discovers what she already knew about the life expectancy of white women in Arkansas. They die young, often from drug overdose or living in poor conditions.

She returns to her hometown of Clinton and investigate the lives of women she was at school with, but especially Darci.

Monica and Darci were best friends for many years. They both came from working class backgrounds, their families were friends.

The first few chapters were detailed accounts of their growing up in Clinton, but although both mothers were friends there was a world of difference in their views on upbringing. When Monica's father started drinking and bringing his friends around, Monica's mother put her foot down. He was to bring no alcohol into the house. If he needed to drink he could do it with his mates in his workshop. She also discouraged any association with his family because of their drinking and their total lack of any direction. Mr Potts worked as a plumber. He appeared to be a drinking man of the times, but a hard worker and fond of his family. Her parents remained together. Monica's mother determined her girls were going to have a better life and did all in her power to make that happen. She saw education as the way out.

Darci's mum, on the other hand delighted in her cute, clever daughter and left her a lot to her own devices while she concentrated on a succession of husbands. Darci had her own den where nobody intervened. There appeared to be no account of abuse or hunger with either girls. They came from ordinary working class families and were both clever and sporty. When it came to their teens Darci's mum had left it too late to put the brakes on and Darci only had to yell and her mother gave way and let her do her own thing, partying with older boys experimenting with alcohol and drugs while Monica, sneaking out a couple of times, felt out of her depth, uncomfortable and knew there would be repercussions at home. The close friendship faltered. Magazine articles and television all depicted the perfect wife. If women did have careers, marriage and families put an end to that.

In these towns, , the women who rebelled often fell by the wayside, hoping a man would pick them up. In her writing, drugs appeared to be so easily obtainable. Getting pregnant at an early age was not a concern.

Potts gives all credit to her mother and her upbringing that she she didn't fall into the same traps as her best friend. The Forgotten Girls is a hard read and I felt depressed. Darci's story didn't need to be the tragedy it was.

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