Emily M. Danforth shares her favorite moments from The Miseducation of Cameron Post
I had a very good time creating and inhabiting and utilizing the character of Grandma Post. In fact, I came to love her scenes so much that she eventually emerged on the page much more fully than I’d probably originally intended. Now that I’ve been done writing about her for quite awhile I actually miss her sometimes. That probably sounds strange, but it’s true.
When Cameron Post’s parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief she’ll never have to tell them that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl.
But that relief soon turns to heartbreak, as Cam is forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and not making waves, and Cam becomes an expert at this—especially at avoiding any questions about her sexuality.
Then Coley Taylor moves to town. Beautiful pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect boyfriend to match. To Cam’s surprise, she and Coley become best friends—while Cam secretly dreams of something more. Just as that starts to seem like a real possibility, her secret is exposed. Ultrareligious Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to “fix” her niece, bringing Cam face-to-face with the cost of denying her true self—even if she’s not quite sure who that is.
4. “What is it, Spunky?” page 349 (She actually uses Spunky as her term of endearment for Cam several times throughout the novel.)
Emily was born and raised in Miles City, Montana, a town best known for its Bucking Horse Sale-which was once listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for hosting the most intoxicated people, per capita, of any US event. She obsessively collects erasers, large-letter linen postcards from the 1940s, snow-globes, and neologisms. (She has an iced-coffee addiction, too.)
