From Powells.com
Our favorite books of 2020-2021.
Staff Pick
It's no surprise that there is a lack of diversity in publishing, which is why the #ownvoices movement is paramount in giving authors from underrepresented and marginalized groups a platform to stand on and, finally, some recognition. Enter Torrey Peters's debut novel Detransition, Baby, a beautiful and poignant book about identity, love, motherhood, and the heartbreaking realities of being trans. There is a reason this book is so critically acclaimed: it's incredible and Torrey Peters is a badass. Recommended By Michelle L. , Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
The lives of three women — transgender and cisgender — collide after an unexpected pregnancy forces them to confront their deepest desires
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2021 SO FAR...
Vulture "Reading this novel is like holding a live wire in your hand."
TIME "One of the most celebrated novels of the year."
Marie Claire "You won't be able to put it down."
Bustle "The book everyone is talking about."
Longlisted for The Women's Prize | Roxane Gay's Audacious Book Club Pick | New York Times Editors' Choice
A whipsmart debut about three women — transgender and cisgender — whose lives collide after an unexpected pregnancy forces them to confront their deepest desires around gender, motherhood, and sex.
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.
Review
“Detransition, Baby is so good I want to scream." Carmen Maria Machado
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"This book is exhilaratingly good." Jia Tolentino
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"An unforgettable portrait of three women, trans and cis, who wrestle with questions of motherhood and family making.... Detransition, Baby might destroy your book club, but in a good way." Andrea Lawlor, author of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl
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"It's the smartest novel I've read in ages. I wish I could figure out how it manages to be utterly savage & lacerating while also conveying endlessly expanding compassion. It's kind of a miracle." Garth Greenwell
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"If I had the ability to momentarily wipe my memory, I'd use it to reread Detransition, Baby for the first time." Vogue
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"A tale of love, loss, and self-discovery as singular as it is universal, and all the sweeter for it." Entertainment Weekly
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"Even the most complimentary adjectives feel insufficient to describe Torrey Peters' first novel." Bookpage (Starred Review)
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"A fiercely confident novel." O: The Oprah Magazine
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"With heart and savvy, [Detransition, Baby upends] our traditional, gendered notions of what parenthood can look like." The New York Times Book Review
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"[Peters] confronts the unruliness of our desires, and our vitality as we struggle within their limits." The New Yorker
About the Author
Torrey Peters is a writer living in Brooklyn. She is the author of two novellas, Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones and The Masker. She also holds an MFA from the University of Iowa and a master's in comparative literature from Dartmouth.