"What I learned from my father was the boys' lesson of dealing in the world--trust no one and win the first time. What I learned from my mother was the girls' lesson--trust no one and win the first time, but just in case you don't, come home, eat something, talk about it, have a drink, cry a little, then go back out there and try again."

Armed with these simple family tenets, Alex Witchel manages to struggle through a full, challenging and frequently hilarious life. And in GIRLS ONLY she goes on a soul-searching and shopping spree--with the ever present help of her wise (and occasionally exasperating) mother, Barbara, and her exasperating (and occasionally wise) sister, Phoebe.

These three form only the female half of the Witchel nuclear unit, yet they are a family of their own, and with a passionately cliquelike unity they attack the entire range of women's problems, from careers to men to aging to pedicures.

"From the Trade Paperback edition.