"How to Build a Girl" is a coming-of-age novel that follows the life of Johanna Morrigan, a unique teenager navigating her way through adolescence in a working-class family in the UK. Struggling with her identity and the pressures of growing up, Johanna reinvents herself as a confident persona named Dolly Wilde. This transformation serves as a means for her to escape her mundane life and explore the world of music journalism.