I ran to the door and yanked it open just as my very drunk brother rapped his knuckles against the air. Hours later, after I’d practiced piano, had a few arguments about the war at dinner, and listened to complaints from Mom about Spencer’s continued absence, I slipped into my pajamas and tried to stay awake, listening to “19 th Nervous Breakdown” from the Stones’ Big Hits album. She journeys to a girl with a guitar, calling to her from a photo, “Come to Alaska. While the Vietnam War threatens to take Spencer away, Tracy and her father wage a war of their own, each trying to save the sweet, talented pianist.Īt seventeen, Tracy dresses as a boy and leaves her parents in turmoil, with only the slimmest hope of finding peace within herself. When both are caught with gay partners, their lives and futures are endangered by their homophobic father as their mother struggles to defend them. Though both feel awkward in their own skin, they have to face who they are-queers in the late 60s. Even her older brother Spencer says so, though he wouldn’t finish the thought with, “And I should have been a girl.” In 1968, a seventeen-year-old queer girl traveled to Alaska disguised as a boy. It is a standalone story and does not end on a cliffhanger.īuy Links – Available in Kindle Unlimited Trigger Warnings: homophobia, internalized homophobia, slurs, death, suicide, car accident, insensitive language/jokes, PTSD. Queer rep: lesbian main character, lesbian and gay side characters “ The story is full of drama, heartache, humor, and hope, set against the backdrop of the late ’60s-the Vietnam War and the draft, racial prejudice, homophobia, and a revolution in music.” Themes : Coming out, Rejection, Forgiveness

The Moonstone Girls by Brooke Skipstone