The Cover Girl by Amy Rossi
8/5/25; 336 pages
MIRA Books
The Cover Girl by Amy Rossi is a highly recommended literary coming-of-age story mixed with a domestic drama.
Birdie Rhodes was thirteen when she started her modeling career. She was discovered by legendary modeling agent Harriet Goldman and became one of Harriet’s Girls. Then, at fifteen, she meets the thirty-one-year-old rock star who convinces Birdie's parents to make him her guardian so she can go on tour and live with him. Obviously all of this impacted her whole life, came with trauma, and robbed her of her childhood.
Decades later she is living a quiet life still trying to deal with her past. When an invitation arrives inviting Birdie to a celebration honoring Harriet’s fifty-year career, she is uncertain about attending. Birdie, who now goes by Elizabeth, hasn’t spoken to Harriet in years.
The narrative switches between young Birdie, starting in 1975, and then fifty-six-year-old Elizabeth in 2018. Younger Birdie's story is heartbreaking. Yes, starting a modeling career so young may seem like a dream, but she was simply not mature enough to suddenly be thrust into an adult role in what could certainly be a predatory environment. There is also no doubt that her parents were negligent and should have protected her and stayed involved in her life. Now, in 2018, it is clear she has obviously lived in denial for years and has never honestly addressed what happened to her.
This is an even-paced character driven novel. It almost reads like a memoir when following the young Birdie. Clearly she knew her body, especially her long legs, was viewed as a commodity, but she longed for someone to honestly see and love her for who she was. She was easily manipulated by people because she was so young and inexperienced. While reading I kept thinking about the fact that our brains aren't fully developed until around the age of twenty-five so thrusting a young teenager into such an adult situation is abusive.
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