The story of Joan Vole, an indie folk singer forever teetering on the edge of fame, who flees New York after committing a shocking sexual act onstage that she fears will doom her career. Joan seeks refuge at a writing camp for teenagers in rural Virginia, where she's forced to question her own toxic relationship to artmaking—and her complicated history with a friend and mentee—while finding new hope in her students and a deepening intimacy with a nonbinary artist and fellow camp staff member.
[An] exuberant character study ... Conklin excels at serving up characters whose questionable choices get them in trouble, and Joan tops them all ... Conklin is also a comics artist...and they bring a touch of the cartoonish to their storytelling without losing dimension. Their prose is funny, sly, frank; it bubbles over with mirth.
A page-turner that’s also a sharp, often haunting character study and a deep meditation on the nature of the relationship between artist and art ... Proves that Conklin is just getting started, and anyone interested in the artistic experience should be seeking their work out.
