Therefore, Sissy sets out on a hitchhiking adventure, choosing to use her abnormal thumbs to get the attention of drivers on highways across America. Sissy's thumbs grow larger as she does the larger her thumbs grow, the more Sissy feels a strong desire to use them for some larger, more cosmic purpose. Sissy sees her thumbs as a unique characteristic that set her apart from the people in her small town, going so far as to say that her thumbs make her the vibrant, free-spirited person she is. Everyone in Sissy's life, it seems, is obsessed with her thumbs, except for Sissy herself. They worry that though Sissy is otherwise quite beautiful and pleasant, her thumbs make her a freak, and she has been dealt an unfair hand because of the mutation. Her thumbs are so abnormally large that her parents and friends feel sorry for her. The story begins in South Richmond, Virginia, where Sissy begins her life as something of a small-town spectacle.

The novel, clearly inspired by the hippy movement of the 1960s and 1970s, demonstrates Robbins's appreciation for the absurdity and kindness of characters of all shapes, sizes, and temperaments.

Along the way, Sissy meets other strange characters and comes to better love herself. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, a humorous novel by acclaimed bestselling author Tom Robbins, follows the journey of Sissy Hankshaw, a free-spirited, beautiful young woman with abnormally large thumbs, who seeks to make the most of her mutation by hitchhiking across America.

Even cowgirls get the blues novel