Forty-nine-year-old divorced hair stylist Eileen Novak has recently enrolled in a community college class to complete her high school education, and her first English assignment is to keep a journal. Initially apprehensive about this exercise, Eileen soon discovers she enjoys writing and the opportunity to really let herself go. Set in St. John's, Newfoundland, in the 1980s and resonating with a vivid sense of place, Finishing School chronicles Eileen's sometimes traumatic, sometimes funny but fully engaged life during the school months. "Always ready to try anything," Eileen says. She speaks frankly of the day-to-day events of her life that sometimes involve uncomfortable encounters, intimate moments and awkward revelations. She’s free-speaking with her wisdom and opinions about the world in general and the people she has known through her life. Eileen is unpretentious and down-to-earth as she reveals her unique way of observing the world around her from her downtown working-class neighbourhood. The cast of characters in Eileen's life include her three grown daughters, her stepfather Herb, her classmate Tom, her ex-husband Gary, her former boyfriend Bruce, her hair clients as well as her friends and enemies. Readers are sure to fall in love with this delightful and unlikely fictional heroine by page one.