32 A

Dublin in 1979. This is where 13-year-old Maeve lives. She has just got her first, snow-white-coloured bra. Cup sizes and bras are a big topic at the moment. Her friends Ruth and Orla both wear one but Claire, being a staunch feminist, naturally does not. Maeve’s girlfriends have all had a boyfriend and this is something that preoccupies her just as much. This is why she needs somebody with whom she can learn how to kiss. To everyone’s surprise Maeve manages to land a date with Brian, the local heartthrob. She is even prepared to leave her girlfriends in the lurch in order to be with him – just when they need her more than ever. The problems she now has with Ruth, Orla and Claire, are compounded by disappointment with her new boyfriend, who deserts her after their first dance and goes off with another girl. Things don’t get any easier when her parents find out, either. To cap it all, her new bra doesn’t even survive the first wash. With a defunct bra and a sconndrel for a boyfriend – when Ruth, Orla and Claire turn up in spite of everything to congratulate her on her fourteenth birthday, Maeve comes to her senses; she’s not only a little bit older, but a little bit wiser too.