Description

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2021
WINNER OF THE PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD FOR DEBUT FICTION 2022

Shortlisted for the 2022 National Book Critics’ Circle John Leonard Prize for best first book

As heard on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row
February 2021 Book of the Month for Roxane Gay’s Book Club
Selected for The New York Times Notable Books of 2021 and The Times Best Books of 2021

‘Irresistible … Detransition, Baby is the first great trans realist novel’ Grace Lavery, Guardian
‘A voraciously knowing, compulsively readable novel’ Chris Kraus
‘Tremendously funny and sexy as hell’ Juliet Jacques

Reese nearly had it all: a loving relationship with Amy, an apartment in New York, a job she didn’t hate. She’d scraped together a life previous generations of trans women could only dream of; the only thing missing was a child. Then everything fell apart and three years on Reese is still in self-destruct mode, avoiding her loneliness by sleeping with married men.

When her ex calls to ask if she wants to be a mother, Reese finds herself intrigued. After being attacked in the street, Amy de-transitioned to become Ames, changed jobs and, thinking he was infertile, started an affair with his boss Katrina. Now Katrina’s pregnant. Could the three of them form an unconventional family – and raise the baby together?

Publisher Review

Detransition, Baby updates and transcends (trans-scends!) the Sex and the City model, while fully delivering its many satisfactions! ... A noteworthy advance in the history of the novel! -- Elif Batuman Detransition, Baby is emotionally generous, richly textured, and deeply intelligent - a vibrant and kaleidoscopic portrait of complicated women and their colliding lives. -- Claire Lombardo, New York Times-bestselling author of The Most Fun We Ever Had Riveting, insightful, and very funny ... an unforgettable portrait of three women, trans and cis, who wrestle with questions of motherhood and family-making. Destined to be a 21st century classic, Detransition, Baby will definitely keep you up late and might destroy your book club, but in a good way. -- Andrea Lawlor, author of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl Torrey Peters just took everything that couldn't be done, and did it ... Plenty of books are good; this book is alive. -- Jordy Rosenberg, author of Confessions of the Fox Writing with alarming insight, Torrey Peters captures the grandiose, heartfelt and sometimes mangled aspirations of queer and trans people facing an unprecedented array of personal choice. By showing how gender transition (like divorce, or any transformative life event) can be simultaneously destabilizing and liberating, Peters makes trans culture relatable to all. A voraciously knowing, compulsively readable novel. -- Chris Kraus, author of I Love Dick I love Detransition, Baby for its wit, its irreverence. And I love it even more for its reverence-its reverence for the quest for womanhood, motherhood, selfhood. Torrey Peters evokes these characters with such fullness and compassion that they felt like dear friends to me. This is an important book, and I couldn't put it down. -- Helen Philips, author of The Need Detransition, Baby is a landmark piece of trans literature - brutally honest and yet incredibly sensitive about trans living, tremendously funny and sexy as hell. -- Juliet Jacques, author of Trans: A Memoir Smart, funny, and bighearted. . . . A wonderfully original exploration of desire and the evolving shape of family [and] . . . a dishy contemporary drama. * Kirkus starred review * Fleishman is in Trouble meets Transparent in this eye-opening, gender-bending exploration of parenthood. * Oprah Magazine's Best Books of 2021 * A visceral, funny exploration of sex and gender through a triad of people - trans and cis -rocked by an unexpected pregnancy * Vanity Fair * Devastating, hilarious, touching, timely and studded with fun pop culture references and celebrity cameos, this is an acutely intelligent story about womanhood, parenthood and all the possibilities that lie within. * BookPage starred review * The distinctive storyline in this page-turner navigates gender, sex, relationships (from romantic to familial), and the commonly unaccepted ideas surrounding them. * Cosmopolitan Best Books of 2021 *