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From one of the most exciting young queer writers on the literary landscape comes the emotional coming-of-age story of Shae, a teenager who falls in love with Cam and must navigate their relationship as Cam decides to transition. For fans of Detransition, Baby and those eager to read about the trans experience, in all its complexities.
When sixteen-year-old Shae meets the slightly older Cam, who is new to their rural small town in West Virginia, she thinks she has found someone who is everything she has ever wanted in a companion. The two become fast friends, and then more. But when Shae becomes pregnant, Cam begins a different transition-trying on clothes that Shae can no longer fit into and declaring female pronouns. Shae is unsure of what to think or feel, but Shae tries to be fully supportive as Cam becomes the person she wants and needs to be.
After a traumatic C-section and the birth of their daughter, Eva, Shae is given opioids to manage the intense pain. During the first year of Eva's life, Shae's dependence shifts from pain management to addiction, and her days begin to revolve around getting more pills. In the heart of rural West Virginia, opioids are dispensed as freely as candy, and Shae is just one of many to fall victim to addiction. Meanwhile, Cam continues to transition. Embracing her true self, new life, and new relationships means she must quickly face the reality of being a trans woman in rural America.
Shae is as much about these two young women as it is about the place they both love despite its limitations. Following the acclaimed Sugar Run and Perpetual West, this is Mesha Maren's most emotional and accessible novel yet. Mesha Maren is the author of the novels Sugar Run and Perpetual West (Algonquin Books). Her short stories and essays can be read in Tin House, The Oxford American, The Guardian, Crazyhorse, Triquarterly, The Southern Review, Ecotone, Sou'wester, Hobart, Forty Stories: New Writing from Harper Perennial, and elsewhere. She was the recipient of the 2015 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize, a 2014 Elizabeth George Foundation grant, an Appalachian Writing Fellowship from Lincoln Memorial University, and fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and the Ucross Foundation. She was the 2018-2019 Kenan Visiting Writer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is an Associate Professor of the Practice of English at Duke University. "Mesha Maren paints a vivid, unforgettable portrait of two young women-one cis and one trans-living in West Virginia and trying to break free from the confinements of gender, class, and sexuality. Mesha Maren is a visionary storyteller and her prose is incandescent. The sentences shimmer with precision, elegance, and grit. It's the kind of book that gets under your skin. I couldn't put it down. Shae is a beautiful, big-hearted novel about love, desire, and daring to be one's self. I will be thinking about the characters for a long time."-Carter Sickels, author of The Prettiest Star
When sixteen-year-old Shae meets the slightly older Cam, who is new to their rural small town in West Virginia, she thinks she has found someone who is everything she has ever wanted in a companion. The two become fast friends, and then more. But when Shae becomes pregnant, Cam begins a different transition-trying on clothes that Shae can no longer fit into and declaring female pronouns. Shae is unsure of what to think or feel, but Shae tries to be fully supportive as Cam becomes the person she wants and needs to be.
After a traumatic C-section and the birth of their daughter, Eva, Shae is given opioids to manage the intense pain. During the first year of Eva's life, Shae's dependence shifts from pain management to addiction, and her days begin to revolve around getting more pills. In the heart of rural West Virginia, opioids are dispensed as freely as candy, and Shae is just one of many to fall victim to addiction. Meanwhile, Cam continues to transition. Embracing her true self, new life, and new relationships means she must quickly face the reality of being a trans woman in rural America.
Shae is as much about these two young women as it is about the place they both love despite its limitations. Following the acclaimed Sugar Run and Perpetual West, this is Mesha Maren's most emotional and accessible novel yet. Mesha Maren is the author of the novels Sugar Run and Perpetual West (Algonquin Books). Her short stories and essays can be read in Tin House, The Oxford American, The Guardian, Crazyhorse, Triquarterly, The Southern Review, Ecotone, Sou'wester, Hobart, Forty Stories: New Writing from Harper Perennial, and elsewhere. She was the recipient of the 2015 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize, a 2014 Elizabeth George Foundation grant, an Appalachian Writing Fellowship from Lincoln Memorial University, and fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and the Ucross Foundation. She was the 2018-2019 Kenan Visiting Writer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is an Associate Professor of the Practice of English at Duke University. "Mesha Maren paints a vivid, unforgettable portrait of two young women-one cis and one trans-living in West Virginia and trying to break free from the confinements of gender, class, and sexuality. Mesha Maren is a visionary storyteller and her prose is incandescent. The sentences shimmer with precision, elegance, and grit. It's the kind of book that gets under your skin. I couldn't put it down. Shae is a beautiful, big-hearted novel about love, desire, and daring to be one's self. I will be thinking about the characters for a long time."-Carter Sickels, author of The Prettiest Star