“I was in my thirties and a nightmare teenager all over again”

Sofia Coppola's 2000 stunning directorial debut, starring James Woods, Kathleen Turner and Kirsten Dunst in her break out role. In a quiet, conservative American town in the 1970s, Cecilia Lisbon, just 13, attempts suicide. She is one of five beautiful teenage sisters and this incident begins to unravel the lives of the entire family. The story is told from the point of view of the neighborhood boys who are obsessed with these enigmatic sisters and draws its dark humour from the fabric of teenage life. Little by little, the family begins to shut itself off from friends and neighbors and the girls are soon forbidden to go out. As the situation spirals downward, the boys plot to rescue the girls.

‘Coming of age’ is a genre that has captivated authors, artists and directors for centuries. Auteurs like Sofia Coppola have been so fascinated by the coming-of-age experience that their filmography is eternally linked to girlhood and growing pains.

And while Netflix has an entire category dedicated to the genre, each of the 17 films currently listed under ‘Coming of age’ focus on the teenage experience. So you can imagine author Laura Kay’s surprise when she found herself going through what she describes as “a second adolescence”.