Evangeline (nickname Staggerlee) meets her adopted cousin Trout for the first time the summer they are both thirteen. The two girls form a strong friendship and learn a lot from each other about what it means to be the children of heroes and what it means to grow up in a world that isn’t tolerant.
Where it takes place:
In South Carolina in the fictionalized town of Sweet Gum.
Where I wrote it:
In Provincetown, Massachusetts and in Brooklyn, New York.
Why I wrote it:
I wanted to write about the south—something I hadn’t really done before. I wanted to write about friendship and I wanted to write about what it means to love someone—how painful and confusing that can be.
Awards
- Bitch Magazine’s 100 YA Books for the Feminist Leader list
- 2014 YALSA’s GLBTQ: Books with Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer-questioning, Intersex, Asexual individuals, and Their Allies
