Title: When You Call My Name
Author: Tucker Shaw
Pages: 368 Pages
Publisher: Penguin Random House Children’s UK
The Blurb
A heartrending novel about two gay teens coming of age in New York – perfect for fans of It’s a Sin and Adam Silvera.
It’s 1990 in New York City.
Adam is falling in love for the first time. Ben is leaving home for the last.
Drawn by the city’s irresistible energy, the boys are swept up into the queer scene, where the potential for life and love seems limitless.
But as the shadows of prejudice gather, Ben and Adam discover how their newfound community is facing the looming threat of AIDS, which will touch their lives more closely than they ever could have imagined.
Heartbreaking yet hopeful, When You Call My Name tells the story of the moments that break our hearts and the people who make us whole – and shows how together we burn brightest in times of darkness.
The Review
Oh my wow. I loved When You Call My Name by Tucker Shaw.
Tucker Shaw’s novel tells the story of two young men living during the turn of the decade from the 80s into the 90s in New York. The AIDS pandemic was on the rise and emotions were running high within the LGBT+ community and outside of it. Ben and Adam met through a chance encounter and form an unusual friendship that is tested by the world around them. Can Adam and Ben maintain their friendship in a world that is constantly changing?
I read a lot of LGBT+ fiction. It is something that I am passionate about. As an ally, I feel the best way that I can educate myself of the LGBT+ community is by learning the stories – whether they be fiction or non-fiction – and opening myself up to knowing the history. When You Call My Name is a fictional story but it is not too far from the truth. There will have been Bens and Adams all over the world going through what they went through which is why stories like When You Call My Name are vital.
For me, the absolute power in this book comes from very certain moments. It is not what Tucker Shaw has had his characters say. The power comes in what was not said – the Pinter pauses that say so much whilst saying absolutely nothing at all. That was writing at its most perfect.
When You Call My Name had me in absolute bits. It has shot to the top spot in my books of 2022.
When You Call My Name by Tucker Shaw is available now.
For more information regarding Tucker Shaw (@tucker_shaw) please visit www.tuckershawwrites.com.
For more information regarding Penguin Random House Children’s UK (@PenguinUKBooks) please visit www.penguin.co.uk.
