Suffolk &amp; Cambs


<p>Meet <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jesskbacon/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jess Bacon</a>. Author, journalist and the reason your TBR pile just got longer. We caught up with her to talk girlhood, hobbies and all things Cambridge.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/suffolkcambs/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2026/06/Jess-Bacon-Cambs-1000x667.png" alt="Jess Bacon, author of I'm Just A Girl" class="wp-image-48315" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/suffolkcambs/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2026/06/Jess-Bacon-Cambs-1000x667.png 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/suffolkcambs/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2026/06/Jess-Bacon-Cambs-800x533.png 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/suffolkcambs/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2026/06/Jess-Bacon-Cambs-400x267.png 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/suffolkcambs/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2026/06/Jess-Bacon-Cambs.png 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-jess-congrats-on-the-book-for-anyone-who-hasn-t-read-it-yet-how-would-you-describe-it-to-a-friend-over-a-glass-of-wine">Jess, congrats on the book! For anyone who hasn&#8217;t read it yet, how would you describe it to a friend over a glass of wine?</h3>



<p>The second girlhood is a joyful phenomenon where adult millennial and Gen Z women are buying back into the things they enjoyed when they were younger – rediscovering dancing, painting, crafting or joining a book club, and bringing more of their younger self into their adult life.</p>



<p>When we&#8217;re little, we&#8217;re sold this vision of womanhood – that we&#8217;ll have the autonomy and financial freedom to do all the things our parents told us we couldn&#8217;t. But when we do grow up, there are so many responsibilities, so many external pressures and impossible, contradicting standards put on women that you&#8217;re constantly squeezing yourself into different boxes. That mental load only grows when you get a partner or have children.</p>



<p>What we&#8217;re seeing is women starting to carve out space for themselves. By doing that, they&#8217;re joining with other women, enjoying the nostalgia, giving themselves a little taste of the things that bring them joy, and some light relief from what is a very stressful and chaotic time.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-we-ve-all-heard-about-trends-like-girl-dinner-and-girl-math-how-is-the-conversation-evolving">We&#8217;ve all heard about trends like &#8216;girl dinner&#8217; and &#8216;girl math&#8217;– how is the conversation evolving?</h3>



<p>In the book I examine why girlhood nostalgia has taken over the cultural economy. There&#8217;s been certain access points – TikTok trends, for instance – and there&#8217;s always a slightly insidious undertone whenever women are calling themselves &#8216;girls&#8217;, especially when it tips into infantilising or pacifying themselves. Trends like &#8216;girl dinner&#8217; and &#8216;girl math&#8217; are fun, but I think they speak to a collective connectivity that we&#8217;re trying to anchor ourselves back to.</p>



<p>&#8216;Girl dinner&#8217; especially feels like an admission between friends that we don&#8217;t have it all together. Sometimes we&#8217;re just going to pull a pickle from the fridge and call it dinner, or have a picky tea, because we&#8217;re not 1960s housewives and we&#8217;re not slaving over the hob tonight.</p>



<p>&#8216;Girl math&#8217;, meanwhile, kick-started a conversation about finances between women that we haven&#8217;t really seen before. We assume that maths and finance is for men – that women have to package it up in a pink, fun, frivolous way in order to engage with it.</p>



<p>At the heart of the book, I&#8217;m exploring that contradiction; women genuinely trying to connect with each other and inject more joy into their lives, but also interrogating the way they&#8217;re doing it.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-is-there-a-memory-that-captures-what-you-re-talking-about-in-the-book">Is there a memory that captures what you&#8217;re talking about in the book?</h3>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/suffolkcambs/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2026/06/Im-Just-a-Girl-packshot-1000x1000.png" alt="I'm Just A Girl by Jess Bacon" class="wp-image-48316" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/suffolkcambs/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2026/06/Im-Just-a-Girl-packshot-1000x1000.png 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/suffolkcambs/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2026/06/Im-Just-a-Girl-packshot-800x800.png 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/suffolkcambs/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2026/06/Im-Just-a-Girl-packshot-400x400.png 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/suffolkcambs/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2026/06/Im-Just-a-Girl-packshot-500x500.png 500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/suffolkcambs/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2026/06/Im-Just-a-Girl-packshot.png 1080w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>I describe the feeling of &#8216;girlhood&#8217; like being sat in the front seat of my dad&#8217;s car listening to Taylor Swift on the radio. My only job on that car journey was to make sure that we had a good soundtrack. I wasn&#8217;t thinking about homework or where we were going. </p>



<p>A lot of the second girlhood is trying to recreate our first girlhood, and for me none of those things exist anymore, but I can recreate that feeling of safety, contentment and peace. </p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-do-you-think-there-s-a-sense-of-grief-around-girlhood">Do you think there&#8217;s a sense of grief around &#8216;girlhood&#8217;?</h3>



<p>There&#8217;s a real sense of loss that comes with growing up – a grief with coming of age. What we&#8217;re looking for is that joy, that lack of self-awareness. As a child you&#8217;re very outward-facing; you&#8217;re looking at the world around you without worrying about how it&#8217;s looking back at you.</p>



<p>The second girlhood is trying to champion that. There&#8217;s a time for activism and productivity, but it&#8217;s also about having fun.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-we-re-so-excited-you-re-bringing-the-tour-to-cambs-this-month-what-does-it-mean-to-you-to-be-talking-about-this-book-on-home-turf">We&#8217;re so excited you&#8217;re bringing the tour to Cambs this month – what does it mean to you to be talking about this book on home turf?</h3>



<p>I&#8217;m so excited – it&#8217;s still so surreal. I went into Peterborough recently and there&#8217;s a sign outside Waterstones, and my brain still can&#8217;t quite wrap itself around it. The fact that I&#8217;ll be standing in bookshops I grew up going to, buying books from. I went to an author talk in Cambridge recently and saw Harriet Tyce, who was amazing, and it&#8217;s just wild to me that I will be that author. That my book will be on those shelves.</p>



<p>I have friends and family coming, so there&#8217;ll be a sea of familiar faces, which I think will make it feel even more special. In <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/events/book-signing-with-jess-bacon/peterborough" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Peterborough</a>, we&#8217;re doing a signing on the <strong>13 June</strong>, which is very informal and relaxed. Then in <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/events/im-just-a-girl-an-evening-with-jess-bacon-in-cambridge/cambridge" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cambridge</a> on <strong>8 June</strong>, it&#8217;s a bit more formal. We&#8217;re doing a Q&amp;A and then we&#8217;ll open the floor to questions.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-you-re-back-in-cambs-what-does-a-perfect-weekend-look-like-for-you">When you&#8217;re back in Cambs, what does a perfect weekend look like for you?</h3>



<p>When the sun&#8217;s out in Cambridge, there is nothing better. For me it&#8217;s all about sweet treats, brunch and great coffee. <a href="https://hotnumberscoffee.co.uk/hotnumbers-menu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hot Numbers</a> pancakes will always be my number one, but <a href="https://www.fitzbillies.com/?srsltid=AfmBOooRB4boQTZeoTgakyFgfsguLJgHxluNPEk0wFpX8Qc4QYlSkDzk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fitzbillies</a> is right up there – their Chelsea Buns are incredible, and don&#8217;t miss the blueberry and cream cheese version either.</p>



<p>I love a wander and a mooch, drinking my way around Cambridge one coffee at a time. <a href="https://bouldbrotherscoffee.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bould Brothers</a> is a favourite too, and on a gorgeous hot day you cannot go wrong with a <a href="https://www.jacksgelato.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jack&#8217;s Gelato</a>. As for punting – I&#8217;m strictly a spectator. But watching the world go by from the riverbank? Absolutely idyllic.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-jess-bacon-s-new-book-i-m-just-a-girl-is-out-now-and-you-can-catch-her-in-cambridge-waterstones-on-8-june-and-peterborough-waterstones-on-13-june"><em>Jess Bacon&#8217;s new book, <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/im-just-a-girl/jess-bacon/9780349447018" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">I&#8217;m Just A Girl</a>, is out now and you can catch her in Cambridge Waterstones on 8 June and Peterborough Waterstones on 13 June.</em></h4>


This is what local author, Jess Bacon, wants you to know about reclaiming your ‘girlhood’

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