Decade of Change

Decade of Change is a novel that follows five women from the west Chicago suburb
of Park Heights, Illinois through the 1980's. Set against a backdrop of sex and politics,
Decade of Change is an exploration of friendship, love, sex and heartache and its effect
on five young women.
The five women, Delaney, D'Arco, Jillian Wendall, Claire Logan, Kate Bennett, and
Medina Masters are very different women with a common bond-their commitment to
each other. Yet they find as they grow older that you cannot always bring your childhood
friends and dreams into the larger world around you. As the decade progresses, the
friends struggle to hang onto their friendships out of loyalty to the past.
As the decade begins, Delaney and Kate are off to separate colleges where Delaney,
always open to sexual experiences, begins an affair with an older female professor. This
affair allows Delaney to explore her sexuality which she does so frequently with both
men and woman, never stopping for a moment to have a relationship with either sex.
Delaney takes a job with the school newspaper that introduces her to the world of
politics. It is the dynamics of writing and politics that drive Delaney and ultimately lead
her to her career choice.
As for the other women, Kate Bennett quickly gets involved in a serious relationship
with Gil Alexander. This relationship is the first threat to the circle of friends as Gil is an
outsider. In Park Heights, Jillian Wendall throws herself into her job as she plans to make
a career for herself at a local glass company where she has worked since high school.
Sexually repressed, Jillian shies away from dating. Claire's life moves into the fast lane
after meeting Paul Fisher who introduces her to booze and drugs and a hard lifestyle.
Finally, Medina Masters struggles to find herself, both professionally and personally as
she jumps from one job and one relationship to another, all the while passing judgment
on her friends, especially Delaney and Claire.
It is these early experiences that set the course for the heart of Decade of Change
which is Delaney D'Arco. Delaney's bisexuality and politics both conflict with the
conservatism of the 1980's. Delaney's sexual lifestyle serves as conflict as she struggles
to maintain her friendships with the other women. Also, Delaney must deal with the
growing feelings she has for Faith Porter and look inside herself to find what she needs to
make the relationship last even if it means she may not be able to hold onto the friends
he grew up with. It is Delaney's bisexuality and an incident with Medina that threatens to
destroy the friendship forever until a devastating accident brings them all together. In the
end, the friends must confront each other and all their feelings for one another and try one
last time, on the eve of a new decade, to see if the women that they have become can
salvage the friendship that grew from the girls that they had been.

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