Read This Book…

In the introduction, the author asks, “Where are all the stories about little swarthy-skinned robber trans girls waving tiny knives made of bone? About trans teenage witches with golden eyes who cut out their own hearts and lock them in boxes so that awful guys on the internet will never break them again? About trans girls who lost their father in the war and their mother to disease, and who go forth to find where Death lives and make him give them back?” This novel is a reply to these questions. Not only a reply, but a scream, a yell, and a song.

The protagonist is an older teen, Asian trans girl who runs away from a city called Gloom. She leaves her parents, who have expectations of her to not be trans and to go to university, among other things. She also leaves her little sister Charity to whom she writes letters that are scattered through this book. Our protagonist is a kung-fu expert and she has a companion who is a ghost. One more thing: our protagonist is a pathological liar.

Upon her arrival to the City of Smoke & Lights, she is found by Kimaya, a fierce femme who takes in all the trans girls seeking love, community, safety, and home. The epicenter of the city where the fiercest femmes can be found is called the Street of Miracles. The Street of Miracles has its own history/mythology and it keeps the inhabitants safe. We meet more fierce femmes as well. Kimaya runs the Femme Alliance Building, known as FAB, which is a health and social services center for trans women and sex workers.

At one point, one of their group gets murdered. A number of them then form the Lipstick Lacerators, a revenge gang who runs around terrorizing and beating the crap out of the men who would see trans women as victims. Remember, our protagonist is a kung-fu expert and things get very violent.

Content warnings for rape and molestation, transphobic hate speech, violence including murder of trans women, and self-harm.