2024. I loved this book. It is full of heart and grit. But I have a lot in common with the protagonist, Max, so your mileage may vary. We're both from Mass., we're both trans masculine, and Max is only 5 years younger than me. It perfectly captured how hard it was to be queer or trans, in 1984, outside a major city.

Set in the made up town of Swaffham, Mass., and its neighbor Brixton. Max is 13-14 in the summer of 1984, about to enter a Catholic girls high school. His, well her, and her name was Mel, short for Melanie then, best friend/almost girlfriend Jules is going to Swaffham High so they won't be together anymore. The book tenderly recounts all the moments Max was confronted his queerness and transness as a child, and how he dealt with it, or didn't. Then he meets Sylvia, the only trans person in town, and they become friends, enlarging the possibilities he sees for his future. She introduces him to Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe, and lets him know a queer life is possible if you move to the city.

The other part of the book takes place in 2019, when Max and his ne'er-do-well sister, Donna, go back to Swaffham to sell the house after their parents have died. Donna has her granddaughter, Dakota, in tow, and wants Max to take care of her. Dakota is pansexual and non-binary, and these identities seem to come easy to her. It's hard for Max to process how much things have changed for queer and trans youth; he's still so traumatized from his own path. CW/TW sexual violence, queer bashing, fire. You must read if you're from Massachusetts and trans. ( )