Description
Johanna Beals decided sixteen years ago to sacrifice everything to raise her daughter Kayla as a single mother. She knew it was the right decision even when it led to lonely nights and broken relationships, and even when adolescent secrets challenged their mother/daughter bond. But the decision to go it alone seems easy compared to the one she is about to face.
Secrets and bouts of teenage angst don’t only challenge parents. English teacher, Miya James, has dealt with her fair share of them over the years. But Kayla Beals seems to be whispering to the wind, an act that stirs uncomfortable memories of Miya’s fractured childhood. As the school year progresses, she finds she wasn’t prepared for this student, for her mother, or for the sparks that add fuel to the teeming atmosphere of unrest, bullying, and homophobia that leaves her school district grappling with life-changing decisions for everyone involved.
MARIANNE K. MARTIN is the author of thirteen novels. She is a five-time Lambda Literary Award finalist and has won one Goldie and two Independent Publisher (IPPY) Awards. She has been honored with the GCLS Trailblazer Award and the Alice B. Medal and inducted into the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival Hall of Fame. Marianne is a retired teacher and coach and is a founding partner of Bywater Books. Her latest project is the documentary, In Her Words: 20th Century Lesbian Fiction, chronicling the impact of lesbian fiction from the 1920s to 2000—the film was awarded the Publishing Triangle Leadership Award in 2020.
