I won’t pretend otherwise, I was lured by the cover of Caroline Leavitt’s Cruel Beautiful World. It was something about the  muted retro colours, the curl of smoke, the lazy dreaminess it conveyed. But I postponed reading it, purely because of all the hype surrounding Emma Cline’s The Girls – based on the blurbs alone, there seemed to be many similarities between the books – set in the late 60s/early 70s; mentions of the Manson murders; teenage girls losing their way; peace, love and communes; hitch-hiking and breaking rules… In fact, the books are very different. Continue reading →