Relaxation, Baby

Reese, a transgender woman, had almost everything: a romantic relationship with Amy, who was also trans, an apartment in New York, and a job she didn't hate. She had managed to amass what previous generations of transgender women could only dream of: a life of comfortable, middle-class ease. The only thing she lacked was a child. But when Amy detransitioned and became Ames again, everything fell apart. Now Reese is trapped in a self-destructive pattern: she tries to avoid loneliness by sleeping with married men.

Ames is unhappy too. He thought that detransitioning to live as a man would make his life easier, but that decision cost him his relationship with Reese—and losing her meant losing his only family. Although their romance has ended, he longs to find a way back to her. When Ames's boss and lover, Katrina, reveals that she is pregnant with his child—and that she isn't sure whether she wants to keep it—Ames wonders if this is the opportunity he has been waiting for. Can the three of them form a kind of unconventional family and raise the baby together?

A provocative debut novel about what happens in the emotional, confusing, and vulnerable corners of femininity that clichés and good intentions cannot reach. Torrey Peters navigates the most dangerous taboos surrounding gender, sex, and relationships with brilliant, fearless insight, offering an original, witty, and deeply moving romance.