In this fresh, speculative blend of queer romance and coming-of-age, Eddie meets Theo in present-day New York and Francis in a New York of the past... torn between eras and his heart, he must make a decision that will change his life forever.
High school has just ended and Eddie is at a loss for what's next. He had a falling out with his best friend, and he never really related to the rest of his peers in the sleepy Colorado town he calls home. The future is bleak.
Until his ancient and eccentric great aunt Cookie asks him to care for her in New York City as she recuperates from an illness. Eddie leaps at the opportunity. Soon after he arrives at her tiny Greenwich Village apartment, homebound Cookie asks Eddie to use her vintage polaroid camera to snap pictures of her favorite places she can no longer visit. But something's unusual about this camera. When he takes a photo, he's launched back in time to an entirely different New York of the early 20th century.
As Eddie explores the underground queer life of the Roaring 20s, he discovers new undercurrents of his own identity. Not to mention a dangerously handsome boy in scuffed boots and tattered stovepipe trousers who keeps popping up in his visions of the past.
But when Eddie begins to develop a crush on the mercurial Francis, a cute baker named Theo enters the picture—and he's in the present. Caught between timelines and feelings, Eddie must make a decision about what he's willing to chase: his romantic fantasies of the past or a reality that might just be what he's wanted all along.
"Shaw's splendid novel offers long thoughts about time and the nature of reality as it tells a compelling love story that is beautifully written in the omniscient narrator's voice, which is used to speak directly to Eddie ("Don't fall in, Eddie. Don't panic"). Don't miss this lovely book."
Booklist, starred review
"A precious celebration of queer joy, resistance, and community; a deserved first selection for any well-rounded collection."
