'Isn't it great, Cathy, being where we are (age-wise I mean)? I really enjoy being 18 cos you have a degree of independence and yet you can act the gom if you want cos we're not "all growed up" yet.'

'I don't know if I agree about it being great being 18. I'm kinda apprehensive, waiting for "it all" to come. I think 22-23'd be better. Then you'd be sophisticated and knowledgeable ...'

It's the era of Dynasty, Murphy's Micro Quiz-M and MT-USA on the telly, Kajagoogoo, Culture Club and Chris de Burgh in the charts. And also a time of mass emigration and creeping social change.
In 1983 in Carrick-on-Suir two 18-year-olds take tentative steps into the future: Cathy to become an au pair, Mary to study accountancy. For a year they exchange long gossipy letters.
The letters are touching, funny, tender and gutsy. They show the girls' growing pains as they make sense of their new lives, dream about finding love, and start to realise that the world is a more complex and challenging place than they had ever imagined.
Most of all, Cathy and Mary's letters are filled with the eternal optimism and sense of wonderment of youth.