In a neat little package which proved surprisingly difficult to open was a book; a proof copy, specifically. I knew it was on it’s way and I was madly excited for it to arrive. Perhaps that’s why it was difficult to open. I opened it up and I laughed at the press release which had a quote from the review I wrote for this author’s previous book, for this site in fact, which had a little post-it note underneath pointing up to the quote saying, “It’s you!” Regardless of that, the really nicely designed cover greeted me to the sight that was What We Left Behind by Robin Talley, who is by the way, a phenomenal author, and I suppose I’m about to fangirl a lot about why. Oh well!
Toni and Gretchen are inseparable. Completely inseparable. They met at the high school dance, and they have a future mapped out with each other. Toni’s going to Harvard, Gretchen’s following her to a school in Boston and they’re going to live their life together as a completely normal lesbian couple. That’s what Toni thinks anyway. Gretchen applied to NYU and got waitlisted for it. She didn’t tell Toni, but she got in. One of them is going to Boston, the other’s going to New York. But how hard could it be?
My brief synopsis really can’t do enough justice to how brilliant this book is.
Robin’s previous book and debut Lies We Tell Ourselves confronted sexuality in a way that astonished me. It was written in this perfect way that took it delicately but wasn’t afraid to say, “This happens. Deal with it.” Lies We Tell Ourselves set it during the period where integration was just happening in America, whereas What We Left Behind puts it in the current time period. I am, sadly, still very partial to Lies We Tell Ourselves, but only by a fraction.
The book truly does confront the issue of sexuality in a groundbreaking way that isn’t weird, it isn’t taboo, it’s just life.
Robin’s style of writing transports you to Toni and Gretchen’s world and doesn’t make you feel like you’re a fly on the wall like other books, it makes you feel like you’re a part of their world, every page turn building on these ideas you’ve formulated about these different characters and helping you get to know them even better.
There is a genuine struggle faced by societies LGBTQ+ community that really shouldn’t exist, and I’m overjoyed that YA fiction is taking topics like sexuality in the modern world and treating them as normal. Robin’s book will play a key role in normalising this where we get to the point that one day nobody has to live in fear of themselves.
Toni and Gretchen’s story will have you on the edge of your seat as you watch their relationship go through the various bumps in the road and they are one of those pairs you just want everything good to happen for them. Honestly at times I had to remind myself that they weren’t real!
Honestly, I think it’s a phenomenal book written by a fantastic writer and I couldn’t be more excited for it to be published so that so many more people can go read it.
- Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop
