Southern California, 1960s: endless sunny days surfing in Malibu, followed by glittering neon nights at Whisky a Go Go. In an era when women are expected to be housewives, Carol Donnelly breaks the mold as a legendary female surfer struggling to compete in a male-dominated sportand her daughters, Mindy and Ginger, bear the weight of Carols unconventional lifestyle.

The Donnelly sisters grow up enduring their mothers absencephysically, when shes at the beach, and emotionally, the rare times shes at home. To escape questions about Carols whereaboutsand to chase her elusive affectionthey cut school to spend their days in the surf. From her first time on a board, Mindy is a natural, but Ginger, two years younger, feels out of place in the water.

As they grow up and their lives diverge, Mindy and Gingers relationship ebbs and flows. Mindy finds herself swept up in celebrity, complete with beachside love affairs, parties at the Playboy Club, and a USO tour in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Ginger, desperate for a community of her own, is tugged into the dangerous counterculture of drugs and cults. But through it all, their sense of duty to each other survives, as the girls are forever connected by the emotional damage they carry from their unorthodox childhood.

A gripping, emotional story set at a time when mothers were expected to be Donna Reed, not Gidget,California Goldenis an unforgettable novel about three women living in a society that was shifting as tempestuously as the breaking waves.