Published By: Lake Union
Pages: 267
Released On: 28/04/2026
Jane Zander has moved with her husband, Matt, back to his hometown of Atwood, Wisconsin, where he is the new headmaster of the prestigious Atwood Prep School. Jane hopes it will be a good fit for herself, her husband, and their children. Especially Charles, their six-year-old son, who aspires to be the next Julia Child, rejects the norms of boyhood, and insists he is a girl.
Jane only wants Charles to be happy. Matt, fearing for his own reputation in a town small enough for everyone to know everything, is in denial. And Charles is facing increasing pressure to conform. When Jane befriends Libby, an Atwood outcast, her advocacy for Charles grows even stronger. Then an unforeseen crisis changes everything, forcing a husband and wife, a family, and a community to confront their beliefs about gender, identity, and unconditional love.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
It has 48 chapters which makes roughly 5 pages a chapter, which I liked as I prefer short chapters over long ones.
This book angered me so much – not because of the writing or book itself, no no. But because of hte topic matter. I know it’s fiction but the idea that people can be against a child doing what he or she wants, letting them live their life, wearing a dress if they want to etc. just confuses me so much. It’s their life, let them be who they want to be. I wish it was just seen in fiction.
Yes there is the topic of transgender children, but there’s a lot of other difficult topics such as illness, money difficulties, job worries, childhood trauma, alcoholism, self-harm, depression, and mental illness.
It’s a timely book and an interesting story to read. I found it very moving, and whilst it isn’t the most uplifting book at times, it is quite hopeful.
It’s a little slow to get going. Not boring as such, but it is a bit slow, but that doesn’t last too long and it really gets going.
It’s a quick book to read, but a heavy one. So I managed to read it in a few hours but it is definitely still lingering.
Not all the characters are likeable. Jane’s family, for one, are despicable. The main characters are lovely, with the exception of the father Matt. He’s okay to begin with, just a bit naïve, but he seems to care more about society’s expectations than his own child. He’s also rude and selfish and overbearing and harmful. Whereas Jane is a wonderful mother. She is worried about Charles, knows how difficult the world can be, but she loves Charles and this story really is all about a mother’s love and what she’ll do to protect her children.
It’s not always the most sophisticated written book, but I would say she’s infused so much feeling into it that the actual writing style doesn’t really matter.
Regardless of your prior knowledge around trans children, you will love this book. It’s informative and honest but not preachy. It gives you the bad things as well as the good, and it almost argues with itself about whether being trans is “right” or not. It really gives you food for thought and it will stay with you.
I believe Elle has a child who is transgender, something I was wondering throughout, and you can tell because she’s put so much heart into this story and the characters that I don’t believe you can get from research alone.
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