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The Gesture That Fit
Thirteen-year-old Jacob Hayles has spent his life performing—the smiles, the mannerisms, the violence – anything to endure the gritty streets of Philadelphia. To those around him, he’s confident, he’s cool, he’s normal; but more than anything, he’s a man. Yet beneath this carefully crafted persona, there’s a truth he doesn’t dare to acknowledge, even as he fights to keep it buried.
When his friends challenge him to lose his virginity, Jacob must prove his manhood or have his reality unravel. As the pressure mounts, he finds refuge in Xavier, the class “weirdo,” and although their fateful relationship inspires hope, it threatens to upend the life he has built—to unearth the Dead. With his world teetering on the verge of collapse, Jacob will have to answer the is happiness possible without truth or does burying the Dead mean burying himself too?
A heartrending coming-of-age novel, The Gesture That Fit portrays identity, community, and the insidious concessions we make to belong. Devastating, yet longingly tender, Linton Taylor’s literary debut shines a light on the shadowed intimacy between Black boys and their denied boyhood—a lyrical, unflinching novel for fans of Moonlight, We the Animals, and Swimming in the Dark.
When his friends challenge him to lose his virginity, Jacob must prove his manhood or have his reality unravel. As the pressure mounts, he finds refuge in Xavier, the class “weirdo,” and although their fateful relationship inspires hope, it threatens to upend the life he has built—to unearth the Dead. With his world teetering on the verge of collapse, Jacob will have to answer the is happiness possible without truth or does burying the Dead mean burying himself too?
A heartrending coming-of-age novel, The Gesture That Fit portrays identity, community, and the insidious concessions we make to belong. Devastating, yet longingly tender, Linton Taylor’s literary debut shines a light on the shadowed intimacy between Black boys and their denied boyhood—a lyrical, unflinching novel for fans of Moonlight, We the Animals, and Swimming in the Dark.
250 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 13, 2025
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January 29, 2026
Themes of lost innocence and rejection pervade through the first novel published by author Linton Taylor. When world is irrationally cruel, is it easier to lash out at those we love or seek refuge in their embrace?
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