These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart by Izzy Wasserstein
In mid-21st century-Kansas City, Dora hasn't been back to her old commune in years. But when Dora's ex-girlfriend Kay is killed, and everyone at the commune is a potential suspect, Dora knows she's the only person who can solve the murder.
As Dora is dragged back into her old community and begins her investigations, she discovers that Kay's death is only one of several terrible incidents. A strange new drug is circulating. People are disappearing. And Dora is being attacked by assailants from her pre-transition past.
Meanwhile, It seems like a war between two nefarious corporations is looming, and Dora's old neighborhood is their battleground. Now she must uncover a twisted conspiracy, all while navigating a deeply meaningful new relationship.
PUBLISHER: Tachyon Publications
YEAR: 2024
LENGTH: 81 pages
AGE: Adult
GENRE: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Thriller
RECOMMENDED: Highly
Queer Rep Summary: Lesbian/Sapphic Main Character(s), Genderqueer/Nonbinary Secondary Character(s), Trans Main Character(s).
*I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review of this book.
THESE FRAGILE GRACES, THIS FUGITIVE HEART is a queer thriller about a trans woman who returns to her former anarchist compound and ends up investigating her ex's murder. It intimacy, autonomy, and connection, as well as the timeless question of "if you fuck your own clone, is it incest or masturbation?"
THESE FRAGILE GRACES strange and vibrant, set in a dystopia with governmental and corporate neglect inversely proportional to the wealth of the residents, when any remain at all. The worldbuilding is drawn in broad strokes, only explaining as much as is relevant to Dora's thoughts at any one moment. What is explained is about the result, not the path to get there, as much of the collapse happened before her lifetime.
Even as the mystery part of the story takes a bit of a backseat to Dora's identity crisis when confronted with her clones, it never loses the tense thread which began with her ex-girlfriend's murder and sudden return to a place she left under stressful circumstances.
If you like queer dystopian thrillers, don't miss THESE FRAGILE GRACES, THIS FUGITIVE HEART.
Graphic/Explicit CW for blood, violence, gun violence, death.
Moderate CW for transphobia, deadnaming, grief, sexual content, incest, injury detail, medical content, medical trauma, murder, parental death.
Minor CW for drug use, drug abuse, vomit.
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