“Imagine being sent into battle with flimsy armor

and a chest plate as crushable as butterfly wings.”

—Clementine

Clementine Trouserdale doesn't know what is wrong with her other than the fact that she doesn't want to spend time with other humans. Written by debut author, Stacey Tisdall, the novel is a memoir-ish tale of a woman who is seemingly suffering from an undiagnosed case of social anxiety disorder and selective mutism.*  

As her fear increases and her life diminishes, Clementine eventually finds herself jobless, friendless and family-less, floating around “Don't-smile-at-me-New-York-City” as she passively watches the spectacle of her life collapse in on itself. She is too shy for panhandling, too shy for prostitution and apparently too shy for life itself. Unable to find a solution to what has become a life-threatening situation, she does what any lost soul on the verge of a nervous breakdown would do; she meets a stranger at a soup kitchen, deems him “God” in her mind then follows him home to his family's apartment in Harlem. Clementine then proceeds, without warrant or invitation, to take off all of her clothes in the family's living room…

As the family proceeds to call 911…

*(The infamous lone shooter at Virginia Tech University was also diagnosed with suffering from social anxiety disorder and selective mutism.).