THE REDEMPTION OF DAYA KEANE

When aspiring artist Daya Keane falls for “the most unavailable girl in school,” there’s nowhere to hide in her small, fundamentalist Christian Arizona town.

Beckett Wild, a vision of vibrantly dyed hair and promised purity, glows like the sun in the oppressive shadows of Grace Redeemer Church. In no universe can Daya imagine she has a chance with a “super-Christian, über-straight” girl, but their worlds collide at a house party where neither of them belongs. As a school project and pressure from her single mom to join the church push Daya into Beckett’s orbit, she discovers a side of her crush the rest of the world doesn’t see. Heartbreaking and hopeful all at once, this contemporary queer coming-of-age story treads deeply into heavy topics, particularly intertwined grief, abuse, and religious trauma. Even as Daya recognizes the wrongness of the discriminatory messages spread by her mother’s church, she reckons with feelings of guilt that she might be abandoning her mom the same way her dad abandoned them. Gordon’s debut captures the full tapestry of Daya’s emotions in prose rich with vivid imagery and metaphor. The resolution (neither a fairy tale nor a fiery car crash) chooses honesty over complete closure. Self-care and learning to release misplaced personal blame are significant aspects of Daya’s growth. All the central characters develop with realistic complexity. Daya and Beckett are cued white; the world around them contains racial diversity.

Raw and achingly truthful.