Juliet Takes a Breath

About this book

During one transformative summer, a queer Puerto Rican teen comes out to her family and then escapes on a cross-country internship with her feminist idol--who will surely help her figure everything out. "Dazzling, funny as hell, poignant, all the things."--Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body "Rivera captures both the disappointments and the possibilities that come with realizing that your life's solution cannot be figured out by someone else."--The New York Times Book ReviewJuliet Milagros Palante is a self-proclaimed closeted Puerto Rican baby dyke from the Bronx. That is, until her coming out to her family crashes and burns, and she's not sure her mom will ever speak to her again. But Juliet has a plan--sort of. Her cross-country internship with Harlowe Brisbane, legendary author and ultimate authority on feminism, women's bodies, and other gay-sounding stuff, is sure to help her figure out this whole "Puerto Rican lesbian" thing. Except Harlowe's white. And not from the Bronx. And she definitely doesn't have all the answers. . . . In a summer bursting with queer brown dance parties, a sexy fling with a motorcycling librarian, and intense explorations of race and identity, Juliet learns what it means to come out--to the world, to her family, to herself.