Plaiting - the act of braiding the hair. In well-to-do suburban London in 1966, the manicured hedges and gleaming Jaguars are the front for lives that are far from perfect. Mary, a brilliant, funny and feisty fifteen year old, dreams of a career as a gene scientist, of her latest boyfriend and of how to get back at her least favorite teacher, Sister Ignatia. Encouraged by her indulgent father, she resists her mother's efforts to groom her socially, challenges the received wisdom of the Catholic Church and meddles in adult relationships, getting into numerous scrapes along the way. Exposed to gender inequality, abuse and homosexuality, Mary is angered by adult inaction in the face of a potentially tragic situation. She responds by interfering, launching with childlike naivete into a campaign to put things right, with almost tragic consequences. Anna Kennedy's funny and sad novel is about the life strands of faith, ambition, love and sex, which in Mary's case are not yet fully plaited.