Alma Mater - Tapa dura

A standout on campus, Victoria "Vic" Savedge is enjoying the perfect romance with football star Charly Harrison, the scion of a prominent Virginia family, until she meets and embarks on a passionate love affair with Chris, a beautiful Yankee transfer student, and is forced to make a difficult choice in her life. By the author of Rubyfruit Jungle. 50,000 first printing.

"Sex makes monkeys out of all of us. If you don?t give in to it, you wind up a cold, unfeeling bastard. If you do, you spend the rest of your life picking up the pieces."
--from Alma Mater

From the bestselling author of Rubyfruit Jungle comes an erotic and heartfelt new novel of sexual awakening, family loyalty, and unexpected first love.

Everyone on the William & Mary campus knows Victoria "Vic" Savedge. The six-foot-tall, raven-haired beauty can hardly blend into the cobblestones? especially on the arm of Charly Harrison, the school?s football star and son of one of Virginia's most prominent families.

Now, at the start of her senior year, Vic's future is mapped out in detail, courtesy of her mother, R.J., and her aunt Bunny. The plan is simple: Vic will marry Charly and settle into the role of a well-respected politician's wife. Though bright and branded by a fiery streak of independence, Vic hasn't really considered any other options. Until she meets a woman named Chris.

A transfer from Vermont, Chris is new to Southern mores and attitudes. Instantly captivated by Vic's beauty and larger-than-life personality, she finds herself drawn to the entire quirky but charming Savedge family. But the young women's friendship is not your basic college-girl variety. For neither can resist their mutual attraction?an attraction that erupts into a passion that will forever change the course of both their lives.

To embrace her true sexuality and sacrifice happiness with a man whom she truly loves are the wrenching decisions that Vic must face. It is a struggle at once terrifying and exhilarating. Just when she makes up her mind, she discovers that fate has its own surprising plan awaiting in the wings.

In her inimitable fashion, Rita Mae Brown brings to life plucky Southern sensibilities and characters grappling with profound emotional issues. A young woman's sudden, intense knowledge of herself?and all the conflicts and physical joys that it entails?are the backbone of this bold and tender love story.