“Life with a 14year old girl can be compared to ‘wresting with an octopus’”. So opens the book by Susan Morris Shaffer, a parenting expert, educationalist and gender equity specialist and Linda Perlman Gordon, who is a clinical psychologist and trained mediator.

As a companion book to “Why Boys Don’t Talk – and Why It Matters”, “Why Girls Talk” also provides discussions from focus groups of parents and adolescent girls, explanations, gives examples and offers parents methods which enable “wrestling with an octopus” to be an enriching and engaging process rather than the frustrating process it can be.

Whereas the research discussed and the examples used are American, with chapters dedicated to African-American and Latina girls, the issues are universal.