Kate Fussner’s debut is a novel-in-verse, loose retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, though familiarity with the original is not necessary to understand and appreciate this modern, queer version. Seventh-grader Olivia is a poet, and when new girl Eden, a musician, shows up to the Poetry Club one day, it’s love at first sight. Through alternating poems in each girl’s voice, Fussner shows them starting a relationship, sharing a first kiss, and filling with the flush of new love.
Olivia’s dad is rarely home and her mother has depression. Eden’s mother has left her father, who remains strict and angry. It is easy to see how the girls find solace in each other. Eden isn’t out, though, and doesn’t want anyone to know about their relationship. She starts hanging out with other, more popular girls and trying to fit in. When Olivia suspects infidelity, however, it is Olivia who uses her words to harm and causes their relationship to rupture.
The verses take us from love to its broken aftermath, and then to Olivia’s determined plan to win Eden back through the power of poetry, as Eden reevaluates who she is and who she wants to be. Fussner deploys various meters and structures to delve into the emotions of first love, middle-school social pressures, family relationships, and coming of age as deftly as I’ve ever seen it done, while also keeping the plot suspenseful and moving. This is not navel-gazing poetry, but poetry as passion, action, and emotion. I also appreciate that Fussner doesn’t over-explain; sometimes there is as much between the lines as in them. Put this novel of love and its reverberations on your must-read list; it is a powerful and moving story and highly recommended.
Both girls read as White. Olivia’s best friend is trans.
