A coming-of-age novel about queerness and addiction in rural America, and the heartbreak that comes from loving a place that doesn't always love you back.
As much an homage to her home state of West Virginia as a nod to those who have struggled to survive small-town limitations, Maren delivers a profoundly intimate study on alienation and how the catastrophic impact of pain and dependency ripples through communities.
Some books simmer for a while; some boil from the get-go. Mesha Maren’s Shae boils. Her book grabs us instantly… . [Her] portrayal of an addict living in a constant fugue state chasing her next fix is all encompassing and powerful. Compelling.
The book is saturated with glistening prose and residual imagery that flows in the same beautiful vein as the passage above. From beginning to end, the novel captures the rawness of the land, its inherent beauty, its people, the way a place can shadow over who a person becomes ... With all the talent coming out of the region, I think it’s safe to say that Maren has developed her own corner of queer rural literature, adding to the conversation surrounding addiction new perspectives with nuance and grace. The Appalachian literary world is lucky to have Mesha Maren and we’ll gladly claim her as our own.
