Sea Gudinski's 1969: A Brief and Beautiful Trip Back may be historical fiction, but it can also be taken as an impressive coming of age story that teaches you so many lessons. This is the story of a young girl called Rhiannon Karlson, whose life changed all of a sudden and how she chose to look for the truth rather than sit back and let the world decide for her. In an era when the hippie culture was in full bloom, Rhiannon was living her life as any teenager would. However, her world turned upside down when a drug dealer sold her a mysterious substance one night. That was the point in her life when she was forced to question her seemingly perfect existence. Now, she is looking for answers and trying to find out what she can do to change her life truly for the better. 

This novel turned out to be far more than my expectations. I was expecting to read a story where the teenage lead would whine, cry, and then pull herself together towards the end. But this novel was something very different from the genre. Rhiannon is very mature for her age, she is perceptive and she is determined. She knows that to make things right for her, she will have to work hard and find her own answers. She knows taking risks is crazy, but that does not stop her from taking some. She is a driven young girl, she is focused and I absolutely adored her. She is one of the best developed and created female protagonists that I have ever read and this is one of the best novels I have read so far this year.