Arriving in a rain-swept city after a solo bus journey, eighteen-year-old Talia's world breaks wide open. Soon she is chasing chickens, telling bad jokes to a prospective boss, fielding a roommate's insults about her décor, all the while homesick for a place that never existed. Funny, harsh, touching, and uniquely observant, Talia speaks to the reader as if to a best friend.

In a chance encounter Talia meets George, a young man whose passion for building sailboats sparks a conversation that leads to much more. When a sailing job takes George away to Mexico, Talia struggles with ghosts from her troubled past until a growing faith in herself brings her to take a bold decision, stepping into the unknown in a way she never has before.

Reminiscent of J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye and Colette's Claudine, Eighteen is an intimate coming-of-age exploration of love, friendship, sexuality, and self-discovery.