Five Little Bitches
by Teresa McWhirter
Five Little Bitches chronicles the intertwining lives of five young women, each of whom is plagued by her own unique demons, and all of whom are devoted to music, the punk-rock lifestyle, and an underground code of solidarity. The novel details each of the girls' personal histories alongside the rise and fall of their band, Wet Leather. As the band progresses, the girls tour Canadian, American and European small towns and big cities, and all the alleys, gutters, back stages, vans, hotel rooms, highways and airways in between.
The novel follows a generation of girls in revolt. As the girls are tested by their own habitual self-defeatist and self-destructive attitudes and behaviours, female bonding and rebellion is played out under extreme circumstances. At its heart, Five Little Bitches asks whether alternative music and youth culture can be an affective mode of subversion and empowerment. The story is a punk-rock travelogue from a psychologically-charged feminist perspective, exposing the external pressures and tribulations which slowly increase as an all-girl band achieves success in the male-dominated world of rock 'n' roll.
close this panelTeresa McWhirter grew up in Kimberley, in the East Kootenays of interior BC. She received a BA with a double major in English and Creative Writing from the University of Victoria. After extensive travel across the Canada and the US, her first novel, 'Some Girls Do', was published by Raincoast/Polestar books (2002). Following an assortment of jobs, including teaching English in Korea, driving an ice cream truck, and scaring children at a haunted house, she published the novel 'Dirtbags' (Anvil Press, 2007) and the young adult novel 'Skank' (Lorimer, 2011). During the past few years Teresa has toured Europe and North America with punk rock bands, gathering material for 'Five Little Bitches'. She lives in East Vancouver.
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