Twelve-year-old Maren isn’t excited about going to a theater camp in the Berkshires. It’s the camp her older sister Hadley loved—but Hadley is at home this year trying to address her depression. Their mom is busy caring for Hadley, and their musician father is on the road, so it’s off to camp for Maren. Maren just wants to get through her time there quietly, unlike her outgoing, nonbinary bunkmate Theo. Her plans go awry, however, when she and Theo stumble upon a mystery involving a missing diamond ring linked to the camp’s namesake, Charlotte “Charlie” Goodman, a rising director in 1940s Hollywood. The clues seem linked to the camp’s production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (the most gender-bending of the Bard’s plays), and they work to unravel them while also dealing with a transphobic campmate and worrying about the camp’s possible closure from financial difficulties.
Chapters from Maren’s perspective alternate with ones set in the 1940s, adding a historical dimension to the tale and insight into the prejudices against women, Jews, and queer people during Blacklist Era Hollywood. Although Maren does not seem to identify as queer herself, there is plenty of queerness in the story. Theo plays a major role, another character has two moms, and one camp counselor is in a same-sex relationship. There is other significant LGBTQ representation here, too, but to say more will involve spoilers; click and drag over the next line if you really want to know.
Charlotte “Charlie” Goodman is queer and gender nonconforming.
Debut author Janet Key weaves a satisfying mystery packed with authentic details of the theatrical world, creatively drawn characters, plenty of action and suspense, and a twist I didn’t see coming (and it’s more than I even let on in the hidden line above). A thoroughly enjoyable read.
Bonus Material consists of notes on the real history behind some of the events fictionalized in the book. and an interview with Dr. Jennifer Feldmann, a pediatrician who works with trans youth. Feldmann explains terminology related to gender identity and sexual orientation, tells us why pronouns and bathroom access are important, offers tips for trans and gender diverse young people on how to come out to family and friends, and suggests how cisgender readers can support trans and gender nonconforming friends. So far so good.
My one criticism of this bonus material is that she notes that transmasculine people can take medicine to stop their periods, but doesn’t say that there are also other puberty blocking treatments, nor that transfeminine people can also take puberty blockers. Most of the information in this section feels affirming and helpful, however (at least to this cisgender reviewer, who recognizes she has limits here), and a list of additional resources should help interested readers fill in the gaps in this admittedly introductory piece on the topic.
Maren is White and Theo reads as Latinx.
