My latest grievance: a novel by Elinor Lipman

In ten words or less: Daughter of two professors discovers parents’ secret past.

Review: Frederica Hatch is the sixteen year old daughter of Dewing College professors—David and Aviva. In addition to teaching, her parents are dorm houseparents. Frederica has grown up on campus, eating in the dining hall, attending the local public high school, and being treated as an equal by her left leaning, union activist parents. She likens herself to the “Eloise of Dewing College.”

But when her father’s ex-wife takes a job as a houseparent at Dewing, their lives are about to change. (Who even knew he had an ex-wife?) Laura Lee dresses in an oddly eccentric manner, is rumored to be a former Rockette, and has a questionable relationship with a priest.

Why bother: Frederica is a witty and insightful narrator, and demonstrates patience and common sense when dealing with the adults in her life. A nice bit of social satire.