Novels

Haley Fry and her twin sister, Jamie, have been compared to one another since birth. Haley is the quieter twin, a lover of music who prefers solitude to spending time with multiple friends. A prodigy on the saxophone, she dreams of a career as a musician. Jamie, on the other hand, is the athlete of the family who prides herself on her popularity and how many boys are after her. The twins’ parents, Larry and Maggie, place more trust in Haley because of her calmer nature. They expect the unexpected from Jamie, but not Haley. When Larry and Maggie learn that sixteen-year-old Haley is pregnant, they are shocked. Surprising everyone, but mostly herself, Haley faces a life-changing decision: Does she abort the baby or become a teenage mother? Choice presents Haley’s dilemma in a unique way. The first half of this novel narrates what happens when Haley chooses an abortion, while the second half reveals Haley’s life when she chooses to keep the baby. Told through the eyes of the entire family, Choice illustrates the tough decisions involved in a teen pregnancy.

Queer Greer is a coming of age story about high school junior Greer MacManus. Greer is uprooted from her childhood home in South Carolina when her father is determined to fulfill his strange but pressing dream to become a border-crossing coyote. Her parents take her and her younger sister to Prescott, Arizona to start a new life closer to the border. Greer enters a new school with the hopes of reinventing herself from the wallflower with one friend to speak of in order to become more of a social butterfly. She soon finds herself among the company of athletes, a swimmer herself. While she tries to get comfortable in her clique under the admiring eye of Cameron Keeting, the most attractive jock in school, Greer becomes increasingly interested in someone else. Rebecca Wilder, the beautiful swim team captain and infamous lesbian in town, befriends Greer, taking her under her wing. A love triangle soon overtakes Greer’s world, leading to drug experimentation over the course of the year as she comes to grips with her sexuality. Shocked at the reactions of her best friend and boyfriend, and finding herself more alone than ever before, Greer turns to self-mutilation in order to cope when things start to fall apart. Without anyone to turn to, Greer must find an inner strength and the courage to be herself in a society that doesn’t always understand.

Vuto is only 17 when her third child dies, mere days after birth. Malawian tradition prevents men from considering a child their own until it has survived for two weeks. Frustrated at not being able to speak to her husband, Solomon, about all three of the children she’s had to bury alone, Vuto forces him to acknowledge the dead baby. Her rejection of tradition causes Solomon and the village elders to banish Vuto from the only home she’s ever known. She seeks refuge in the hut of U.S. Peace Corps volunteer Samantha Brennan, where Solomon discovers his wife has not left as she was told. When Solomon arrives in the night to attack Vuto, Samantha disregards her oath to remain uninvolved in village politics and interjects herself into the center of the conflict, defending Vuto and killing Solomon in the process. The women go on the run from Vuto’s village and the Peace Corps, encountering physical, ethical and cultural struggles along the way.

A sequel to Queer Greer, Straight Nate tells the tale of Natalie Richards who knew something was different about her since she was five years old, but she didn’t have the words to talk about it. Once she was old enough, she just thought she was a girl who liked girls, a lesbian. But something about that didn’t feel right to her. By high school, she had the vocabulary to explain who “Natalie” was, but not the family or support to voice it. It isn’t until college that Natalie realizes it is impossible to live life as a girl any longer – that “Natalie” is really “Nate” and Nate is a heterosexual man stuck in a body that has never made sense.

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