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NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The lives of three women—transgender and cisgender—collide after an unexpected pregnancy forces them to confront their deepest desires in “one of the most celebrated novels of the year” (Time)
“Reading this novel is like holding a live wire in your hand.”—Vulture
Named one of the Best Books of the Year by more than twenty publications, including The New York Times Book Review, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Time, Vogue, Esquire, Vulture, and Autostraddle
PEN/Hemingway Award Winner • Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Gotham Book Prize • Longlisted for The Women’s Prize • Roxane Gay’s Audacious Book Club Pick • New York Times Editors’ Choice
Reese almost had it all: a loving relationship with Amy, an apartment in New York City, a job she didn't hate. She had scraped together what previous generations of trans women could only dream of: a life of mundane, bourgeois comforts. The only thing missing was a child. But then her girlfriend, Amy, detransitioned and became Ames, and everything fell apart. Now Reese is caught in a self-destructive pattern: avoiding her loneliness by sleeping with married men.
Ames isn't happy either. He thought detransitioning to live as a man would make life easier, but that decision cost him his relationship with Reese—and losing her meant losing his only family. Even though their romance is over, he longs to find a way back to her. When Ames's boss and lover, Katrina, reveals that she's pregnant with his baby—and that she's not sure whether she wants to keep it—Ames wonders if this is the chance he's been waiting for. Could the three of them form some kind of unconventional family—and raise the baby together?
This provocative debut is about what happens at the emotional, messy, vulnerable corners of womanhood that platitudes and good intentions can't reach. Torrey Peters brilliantly and fearlessly navigates the most dangerous taboos around gender, sex, and relationships, gifting us a thrillingly original, witty, and deeply moving novel.
“Reading this novel is like holding a live wire in your hand.”—Vulture
Named one of the Best Books of the Year by more than twenty publications, including The New York Times Book Review, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Time, Vogue, Esquire, Vulture, and Autostraddle
PEN/Hemingway Award Winner • Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Gotham Book Prize • Longlisted for The Women’s Prize • Roxane Gay’s Audacious Book Club Pick • New York Times Editors’ Choice
Reese almost had it all: a loving relationship with Amy, an apartment in New York City, a job she didn't hate. She had scraped together what previous generations of trans women could only dream of: a life of mundane, bourgeois comforts. The only thing missing was a child. But then her girlfriend, Amy, detransitioned and became Ames, and everything fell apart. Now Reese is caught in a self-destructive pattern: avoiding her loneliness by sleeping with married men.
Ames isn't happy either. He thought detransitioning to live as a man would make life easier, but that decision cost him his relationship with Reese—and losing her meant losing his only family. Even though their romance is over, he longs to find a way back to her. When Ames's boss and lover, Katrina, reveals that she's pregnant with his baby—and that she's not sure whether she wants to keep it—Ames wonders if this is the chance he's been waiting for. Could the three of them form some kind of unconventional family—and raise the baby together?
This provocative debut is about what happens at the emotional, messy, vulnerable corners of womanhood that platitudes and good intentions can't reach. Torrey Peters brilliantly and fearlessly navigates the most dangerous taboos around gender, sex, and relationships, gifting us a thrillingly original, witty, and deeply moving novel.
222 Reviews
3.5
Felyne Siao
Created about 2 months agoShare
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“There were parts in this book that were overwritten, as if certain long paragraphs were there to make a statement more than move the plot or assist in character development. Nevertheless, I discovered a lot about trans people and the lgbtqia+ community in general, and found myself smirking at witty dialogue. Almost rated this a 3 because of Katrina “marginalized POC” drama when she’s white passing, and as an asian, it’s just not something that stopped us from being the best (? lol)”Reviewed in:Women’s Prize for Fiction
Colorful personalitiesComicalThought-provokingDense writingToo long
Ike
Created 6 months agoShare
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“The word “detransition” is so taboo, but I loved how I learned to not dislike the word and the people who choose to do so. It really opened my mind and the story was so good but so tragic”Characters change and growBeautifully writtenComplexRealistic settingMemorableUnsatisfying ending
Jess Hoover
Created 2 months agoShare
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Diverse charactersMorally ambiguousBeautifully writtenOriginal writingInsightfulPoliticalThought-provokingUnlikable charactersUnsatisfying plot
Hangsz
Created 6 months agoShare
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“I’m not a big fan of authors who write back and forth between past and present unless there is murder/mystery involved. That’s the main reason why I rated the book so low. I liked the overall idea and concept of the story just hated the over-detailed back and forth. I wanted more of the present and what I did get was too short and the book was over with an open-ending. Bleh.”
Reviewed in:Bookish Baddies
Multi-layered charactersInformative
ADP
Created 7 months agoShare
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Likable charactersMulti-layered charactersOriginal writingFast-pacedHeartbreakingMeaningful
About Torrey Peters
Torrey Peters is the author of the novellas Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones and The Masker, which are available for free on her website. She holds an MFA from the University of Iowa and an MA in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth. She grew up in Chicago and now lives in Brooklyn.
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