She Rises

by Kate Worsley

It is 1740 and Louise Fletcher, a young dairy maid on an Essex farm, has been warned of the lure of the sea for as long as she can remember--after all, it stole away her father and brother. But when she is offered work in the bustling naval port of Harwich, as a lady's maid to a wealthy captain's daughter, she leaps at the chance to see more of the world. There she meets Rebecca, her haughty young mistress, who is unlike anyone Louise has encountered before: as unexpected as she is fascinating.

Intertwined with her story is fifteen-year-old Luke's: He is drinking in a Harwich tavern when it is raided by Her Majesty's Navy. Unable to escape, Luke is beaten and press ganged and sent to sea on board the warship Essex. He must learn fast and choose his friends well if he is to survive the brutal hardships of a sailor's life and its many dangers, both up high in the rigging and in the dark below decks.

Louise navigates her new life among the streets and crooked alleys of Harwich, where groaning houses riddled with smugglers' tunnels are flooded by the spring tides, and love burns brightly in the shadows. Luke, aching for the girl he left behind and determined to one day find his way back to her, embarks on a long and perilous journey across the ocean.

The worlds they find are more dangerous and more exciting than they could ever have imagined, and when they collide the consequences are astonishing and irrevocable.

A breathtakingly accomplished love story and a gripping search for identity and survival, She Rises is a bold, brilliant, and utterly original novel.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, LGBT, Historical, Romance, Queer, Lesbian

421 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2013

About the author

Kate Worsley’s latest novel FOXASH, out now in paperback and audiobook, is a Times pick of the month and winner of the East Anglian Book Award for Fiction. Her first novel, SHE RISES, won the HWA Debut Crown for Historical Fiction and was shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Prize in the US. She was born in Lancashire, and now lives on the Essex coast in the UK.

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was captivated first by a wonderful cover, then by an intriguing epigraph, and then by two stories, at first seeming simple, that twisted and turned together in ways that were wonderfully unexpected.

First there was Luke. He was just fifteen when he found himself in the wrong place at wrong time, and was press-ganged into the His Majesty’s Navy. There was no way out, and he found himself sailing away on a warship. He had to learn fast, what was required of him, who he could trust. He was a the beginning of an extraordinary adventure, but he could only think of the girl he had left behind.

And then there was Louise, a young dairymaid who was presented a wonderful chance to better herself. She became a lady’s maid in the household of a sea captain, and she began to search for her brother who had last been seen in the same harbour town. But she was somewhat distracted from that search by the young lady she served, who behaved in ways that were quite unexpected. As did Louise…

It’s difficult to say more than that about the story without giving far to much away

She Rises is a story of love, adventure, identity and secrets.

And all of this in a world that lives and breathes. The houses and the streets of a harbour town. The taverns and the docks. The ships that set sail into the wider world.

I liked Luke from the start. It took me a little longer to become involved with Louise. It didn’t help that she was addressing one person – ‘you’ – but soon I realised who ‘you’ was and I understood.

That story was effectively told, the prose style distinctive and suiting it perfectly. Like the sea, it had quiet times, but there other time when waves rose and fell, and those moments quite took my breath away.

The way in which Luke’s and Louise’s narratives came together was unexpectedly wonderful and, though the change of gear was a little clunky, but it raised the story to greater heights.

I saw influences, some fine authors and some wonderful books, but She Rises has a spirit, a character, a reason for being that is entirely its own.

There were more than enough good things for me to forgive its few failings, keep turning the pages, and feel sorry that now the story is over.

[CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not sure how to begin this review. I have two options: 1) I can tell you I loved this book and urge you to get your hands on it right away; 2) I can warn you that it’s very difficult for me to discuss this book in any depth without revealing GIANT SPOILERS. You are, therefore, warned. If you haven’t read this book, you shouldn’t read the full linked below. This is coming from someone who usually is pretty blasé about the whole spoilers thing. Let me just say this: if you like historical queer fiction, if a tantalizing mixture of inter-class lesbian romance and mid-1700s navy action sounds exciting to you, if you are desperately waiting for Sarah Waters’s next book, if you love authentic, rough language that disorients and dazzles you, then please pick up She Rises by Kate Worsley.

First of all, have you had a look at that gorgeous cover? This beautifully written and suspenseful novel completely lives up to the stunning artwork. The novel has a peculiar structure which alternates between the perspective of fifteen-year-old Luke, who has been press-ganged and forced to work on a navy ship, and Louise, also a teenager and a former dairy maid, who has recently arrived in the seaside town of Harwich to become a lady’s maid. This structure moves you along pretty quickly, because you’re always wanting to read on and find out what happened to Luke after reading about Louise and vice versa.

See the rest of my review at the lesbrary: http://lesbrary.com/2013/11/01/casey-...

[Dana · Rating 1 out of 5]

5/25/2020: Changing my original rating from 2 to 1 stars because I randomly thought of this awful book 2 years after reading it and realized: some parts of the story that hadn't bugged me originally are actually... terrible? So I'm editing my original review somewhat. I will get into it in a second, but first I want to warn that this entire review will be filled with spoilers, including the biggest twist in the book. However, I feel like this twist itself is problematic, so I'm not going to click the spoilers tag and will just warn you at the beginning!

So... where to start with this disappointing book. She Rises is a slow book, told from two perspectives. Louise, or Lou, is a lady's maid to a wealthy captain's daughter, Rebecca. Rebecca is spoiled and haughty and kind of terrible, but over time... they become closer and fall in love. The other POV is Luke, who was press ganged into service of Her Majesty's Navy and sent to sea. He is desperate to survive and get back to London... and seems to have a secret.

Okay, so I will say right off the bat that Luke's secret (and the big plot twist of the book) is that he is actually "Lou." He's a trans boy and he's wanting to get back to London to find Rebecca and tell her he didn't mean to leave and that he wants them to be together, etc. I've seen other reviews that have praised this clever plot twist, but I suspected it from the beginning, because I knew there was a trans character in the book, and honestly it's kind of obvious after a point. Like, you're supposed to think Luke is "Lou's" brother, but it becomes clear pretty quickly this isn't the case. I didn't mind this plot twist at the time I first read it; in fact, I wrote in my original review that "I felt like the execution of the idea was stellar!" and that I "LOVED the stuff about Luke figuring out gender identity stuff and the drag-like feel to the early scenes vs how it develops into something more as the story goes on."

Well, regardless of if I enjoyed it at the time... today when I thought of this book out of the blue, I'm kinda of the mind that it's a little (a lot) gross to make someone's trans identity the plot twist? I read this over two years ago at this point, so it's hard for me to say how I'd feel about it now and even more difficult to talk about it. But being trans shouldn't be something that's shocking or fodder for drama... it others the trans identity. I was browsing through other people's reviews of this book and no one seems to have this opinion, but also there are so many people saying this is great for 'lesbian book clubs' and for 'fans of Sarah Waters' so clearly they're ignoring Luke being trans and are only here for the "wlw" content.

Also, I said in my original review that I loved the cover and it IS very beautiful but something about how Luke is drawn feels a little... idk. weird. I don't know how to articulate this or if I'm reading into too much, but I thought I'd throw this out there. Also who is the 'she' in 'She Rises' - is it the boat????? I'm hoping it's just the boat because if the author was trying to also refer to Luke and how he's afab, that'd be so gross. :/

So there's that. But... there's also so much more.

cw for rape and racism

So. Luke is sexually harassed and eventually raped by someone on the ship. Rape/sexual assault is such a difficult subject to approach in fiction, but I HAVE read books where it was given respect and sensitivity. This book... well, I guess I'll just say that there was something about it that rubbed me the wrong way from the beginning, and has only bothered me more as time has gone on.

It was hard at first for me to put my finger on WHY it made me so uncomfortable to read. But I'm realizing it was the way it was written - it felt simultaneously violent and almost... voyeuristic? Especially when I compare it to books that handle this topic more sensitively. It didn't feel necessary, like the author just put it in for the sake of the violence. Once it happens to Luke, it's not really discussed again and we don't see how it's impacted him or how he's recovering from this trauma.

If that was my only issue... well, I still would have been upset. But ugh, it does get worse, because - the racism! First, She Rises had little to no characters of color for the first half of the story, as if people of color didn’t exist in 1740 Britain. But THEN, Luke lands in a French colony off the coast of Africa (I think? The discussion of locations was a bit confusing to me). And the author proceeds to 1. describe basically every Black character that Luke sees with the n word and 2. give no characters of color a role in the story beyond their subjugation or their relation to white people.

I have a lot of thoughts on this, but to directly address the slur issue... There are so many historical fiction books that use racial slurs for the sake of 'historical accuracy' but to me, it feels increasingly gross and cruel for authors who cannot reclaim the slur to use this type of violence in their writing. For some reason this is a really divisive issue, and the purpose of this review isn't to discuss this topic in detail... but the thing is, even if you disagree with that statement, I'd hope you would be able to see that the way She Rises uses racist language and the subjugation of Black bodies simply to "set the scene" was disgusting. It made me feel so gross to read.

Ultimately, the reason I hated the way Luke's rape and the racism are the same. Kate Worsley's writing of these horrific events have no compassion for their victims. And it feels like they're only placed within the story because it's 'historically accurate,' rather than to tell a humanistic story. Both the rape and the racism could be completely removed from the book with little affect to the overall story - meaning, perhaps, that the author cares little for how these horrible events affect the main character or the wider world around him. In the end, this book simply felt like a series of events rather than a story. As if the author thought it might be cool to write about, rather than doing research on how her book could be doing a violence to the communities she's depicting.

And you know what? If Kate Worsley is SO concerned about having historical accuracy, why does she never address the fact that Luke should have a period, and that hiding it would have added a lot more stress to his already stressful situation? Oh wait, I know. It was so we could have the amazing 'Luke is trans!!!!' plot twist!!! -_- Do you see what I mean about this author really not caring about actual representation and accuracy? It really feels like she's only wanting to write a Historical Book With a Cool Twist, regardless of if it's actually historical. Or actually a cool twist. ew.

And for my final complaint: I felt utterly confused by the ending. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE open-ended endings. But this legitimately felt like it stopped mid-chapter. I have no idea what Luke was doing and the way he narrated the story was so weird... He kept saying stuff like, “Later, I would be sorry I didn’t talk to Rebecca about this” or whatever, and then we never got to see ‘later’???? Also, I had a million questions about what would happen to these characters after the book ended and no clue of even the vague direction their lives would lead. I did not understand the point of leaving SO many questions unanswered in such an unsatisfying way.

Okay, well, glad I got all this out of my system and let me just end this review by emphatically stating that you should never pick up this book (:

[Corrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

”Beware of men, my mother had always told me. Beware of men young and old, but especially those of the sea. Their stories are tall, their manners are rough, their desires unruly. Give them a wide berth if you wish the course of your life to run smooth.”

OMG, Kate Worsley’s She Rises was an epic debut novel and how can I ever put this into words without spoiling the plot. I really advise you not to read any reviews beforehand and just go in blind. If you have a Scribd subscription, choose the audiobook option (they have the book as well). The narration – brilliantly done by Clare Corbett for Louise’s part of the story, and Thomas Judd for Luke’s – adds so much. The accents, the various voices they did, it made it into an utterly captivating experience.

Set in 1790, Louise Fletcher is an Essex dairymaid, and fairly content on the farm. She has a purpose in life, and a purpose that she’s actually good at. Everything changes when fate steps in and she finds herself in Harwich as the new lady’s maid to a Captain’s daughter (Rebecca Handley). Her new mistress is like nothing she’s ever seen before.

Alongside Louise we follow Luke, a boy pressed into service in His Majesty’s fleet, at first miserable but who gains his sea legs and his skills as time goes on. These two stories intertwine in surprising ways as the novel goes on.

Worsley is also an exceptional writer, and the prose throughout the book shows this brilliantly. The settings are evocative, the characters’ feelings leap out from the page, and their voices are distinct. Louise’s sections are told to a certain “you” (it doesn’t take long to find out who this is), while Luke’s are simply told from his perspective.

Just let yourself be carried away on the tide of Worsley’s story. There is loss, and passion too, but the story is primarily a love-song to the sea in all its captivating moods. Of the ocean’s ability to broaden horizons and make us dream of things that never before seemed possible. I was halfway in the audiobook when I knew I had to buy it for myself to read again. Buy this book!

f/f

5 Stars

[Jenny Q · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings on this book. On the one hand, it's an imaginative historical novel full of conflict and danger, with fantastic descriptions of life on an eighteenth-century naval ship, and of life in an eighteenth-century shipping town. On the other hand, I didn't really care for the story. She Rises turned out to be completely different than what I was expecting, and while sometimes that can be a very good thing, in this case, for me, it was not.

In alternating chapters we follow Louise, a poor dairymaid, as she is given a new position as a maid and companion to a wealthy captain's daughter, and Luke, a fifteen-year-old boy who has been forcibly pressed into the navy and struggles to adapt to the tough and dangerous life of a sailor. Louise's chapters are written almost as letters to her mistress, Rebecca, and it is easy to see early on that she has developed a fascination for her, undeserved though it may be. Luke's chapters are written in a more immediate style, and the realistic depiction of the brutal life of a sailor can be tough to read at times, but I appreciated the honest and eye-opening account.

It's very hard to pinpoint in this review what I didn't like about the story without giving anything away, because She Rises does have a few monumental surprises in store for the reader. I can't say that I ever really formed an attachment to Louise, or any of the other characters. At first I was drawn to her and rooting for her success in life, but as the story went on I found myself disliking her single-mindedness and the clinging nature of her personality. Luke is made of somewhat stronger stuff and I was sympathetic to his plight onboard the ship, and I became more interested as the connection between Luke and Louise became clear and I knew who he really was, especially as the alternate storylines finally merged and plunged on toward a conclusion--but that conclusion left much to be desired. It's the type of ending that frustrates me, that leaves me feeling a bit cheated, that has me scratching me head and saying, That's how it ends? That's what I just slogged through 420 pages for?

However, in spite of the fact that the story itself was not my cup of tea, I cannot fault the writing. It's evocative, lyrical, and profound in places, and as I stated before, the description is just fantastic. So that bumps my rating up a notch and allows me to recommend She Rises to anyone in the mood for literary historical fiction that doesn't mind some unusual twists and turns.

[vic · Rating 3 out of 5]

some good wlw content but the genders ,,, god the genders.

i really can't tell if this is supposed to be a book about a trans man or a butch lesbian so i've just chosen to treat it as he's a trans man. while you can absolutely have he/him butch lesbians, i think lukes experiences echoes closer to that of a trans man than a butch lesbians. this may be because of the time period and how he's not able to choose to be butch, but it just means that i think he reads as more trans than butch. idk i'd be interested to see how other people read his character, but with the way that he refers to himself internally, the constant setting barriers in how he refers to himself, the final telling becca to call him luke, that's just what seems to fit better. also my use of pronouns in this are a riot, im trying to accurately portray the stages of luke's character development so i'm sorry if theyre like wrong or not respectful, hmu and i'll change it.

okay so like the authors clearly trying to do smth with how gender is performed, how its a costume, but instead the character ends up falling into the usual trap of his transness becoming a character or costume that he pulls on and off at will, like the costume is essential to the realising of transness, and this is something seen over and over again in media - the cis obsession with the pulling on of the 'opposite' genders clothes, of the slow montages of trans people trying on clothes and 'finding themselves' (their transness) within them, which just ,,, isn't ,,, how that works particularly ,,, i get for media it's easy to focus on this idea of a singular moment but like the whole thing is a real big journey and i just don't understand how lou is written as hating everything about men and not being particularly uncomfortable in presenting as a woman and then she tries on the sailors garb and suddenly Understands Himself like ,,, no ??? thanks ???

the main good thing this book did was that air of fear that cishet men bring with them, that lou can see very clearly in the early aspects of the book - like the fear she feels at their behaviour, of the threat of them that is present within their drunkenness especially but also just in the very way they look at women. the way that even their gaze says that women owe them something. the men take and take from women in this book and it's very accurate.
did not enjoy how it was then later written off as part of the heterosexual mating dance ,however, as totally normal and healthy, and that luke then coopts this behaviour as his own even tho when he's presenting as a woman he's clearly terrified by it so like ,,, why ,,, would he then do that ?? like yeah theres power in the arrogance, in flirting, but real trans men would never purposefully try to make women uncomfortable in the guise of attraction - this is not how trans people act, it's not how butch lesbians act, and it's not how trans stories should be written.
the author plays at investigating gender without successfully managing to say anything intelligent - she turns Luke into everything that he himself hates in cis men and then calls that liberation. and yeah that can be a result of trauma, but the fact that he perpetuates the same gendered binary without query is just unrealistic and made me mad
tying into this, why does luke also become violent and emotionally abusive, why are emotional distance and violence always treated as if they come naturally hand in hand with masculinity. what could have been a really interesting look into how Luke's strength differs from that of the cishet mans, how its softer and comes from a vulnerable place, the strength that comes with trauma and with the outside look into the gender binary that being trans give you, instead becomes about him adopting those terrible traits that are the worst without him even giving a thought into why he's replicating them. like actual trans men exist and its nothing like that? the author could have used this as a very interesting opportunity to investigate why cis men are so Like That and into what socialises them that way, and how luke becomes different - how trans manhood is different to cis manhood but nope, didn't bother with any of that, lukes just a sad asshole now.

Luke becomes the assimilated queer who allows himself to benefit from his perceived privilege and it just Isn't Realistic. like all us queers are out here with our trauma and we don't do awful shit like treat our wives like shit and then maybe up and leave maybe not in the most disappointing ending of a book maybe ever. idk i mean hopeful endings are my fave kind and maybe thats the problem bc this shows that happy ending as completely broken down, but like in 2013 was this the kind of rep we rly needed? Extremely No.

also like no offence but are we supposed to think its cool that albert is having relations with a whole ton of women who don't know he's trans like those women rly should know whats happening there thats rape?

did like luke loving his new strength and reveling in the strength in his shoulders, that felt very On Brand and accurate to just the whole experience tho

noah fence but the twist was like rly obvious tho, maybe it's just bc i think genders fake and the book relies on you assuming that bc lou is a 'girl' and luke is a 'boy' then they must be entirely people to properly pull of the conceit which then obviously doesn't work on me but yeah it was p cheap ://

[Bandit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Because one of my favorite author Sarah Waters takes entirely too long between books, I've been looking for something in similar vein. I came across this book on a list of Lambda nominees and it sounded really great. And it actually really was. Absolutely spellbinding, took a short whole to get into, but then I couldn't put it down, ended up reading it all about five and a half hours. The dual story lines was what initially threw me, being fairly indifferent to maritime tales, but the narrative is so cleverly split and so well executed plus the sea here is impossible to ignore, it's very much a character in itself, practically a love interest. Although the historical and gay aspects intertwined inevitably invite the comparison, this isn't Sarah Waters. This is Kate Worsley, a major talent if this confident and exciting debut novel is any indicator. I have to say I didn't love the ending, understood it, appreciated it, but didn't like it. Loved the book, though. Gorgeous writing, very striking book inside and out. Highly recommended.

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a hard review for me to write as I am truly conflicted about this book. Worsley has a beautiful writing style and is especially skilled at bringing 18th century England--and the sea--to life. I also found the idea behind this book to be original and fascinating.

But...

All in all, this book just didn't work for me. As much as I liked the idea of the book, I don't think that idea came to fruition effectively. Writing parallel stories, as Worsley has done here with Louise and Luke, is not always successful and, in this case, I found it horribly distracting. The two tales do come together eventually, but it doesn't make up for the majority of the book where the stories seem to operate on their own.

Worsley did a fine job creating the main characters of Louise and Luke, but I can't say much about any of the other characters in the book. Most problematic was Rebecca. She was an incredibly unlikable character and Worsley never really made the case for the attraction between Rebecca and Louise plausible--which is at the center of this novel.

This is Worsley's debut novel and, fair or not, I am chalking this up to inexperience. Worsley's writing is certainly top notch--and I'd be willing to read any future books of hers--but she needs to improve her structuring and finessing the structure of her stories.

[Kathrin Passig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eigentlich ein Vier-Sterne-Lesevergnügen, vor allem in den ersten zwei Dritteln. Ich mochte den Stil und die Erzählweise sehr. Trotzdem nur drei, weil ... ich kann das nicht spoilerfrei begründen, aber Identitäten und Persönlichkeiten werden dem Plot untergeordnet auf eine Art, die mir unangemessen vorkommt. Außerdem war das letzte Drittel nicht mehr so gut, mehr eine Pflichtübung im Verknoten von Handlungsfäden. Aber mit mehr Lektorat hätte es sehr gut sein können.

[Chaitra · Rating 1 out of 5]

The cover is beautiful. That's about what is good about the book, to be honest. It's plodding, it plays coy. The alternating storylines of a brother and a sister is decipherable about a quarter of the way in if you're paying attention. For some foolish reason, I was. I did not like the writing, I did not like one single character. I cannot for the life of me understand Becca's charms, she starts out cruel. Once the cruelty is taken out, she might as well be an ornamental plant for all the personality she has. Worsley tells me Becca + Lou = true love, but to me it seems like slavish devotion. And that's the more interesting storyline. I couldn't bring myself to care about Luke and his whimpering, unhappy journey aboard a ship. I blame the writing for that - it's high drama, but I felt like I was being told over and over again that it is high drama. Not exactly my thing.

Edit. I wrote the review several days after I finished the book, and the details are already rather vague in my head. Hmm.

[Niki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some aspects of this book were excellent and worth more than three stars. The evocation of Harwich as a bustling, briny port is gloriously vivid and I found the sections of Luke's story describing his time at sea very powerful, BUT the "Twist" in the tale is so obvious, signposted so heavily, that I found myself willing the author to do something more subtle. The "Twist" doesn't so much sail over the horizon like one of Luke's ships in full sail, it lumbers over the horizon like a vast, rusting hulk of a tanker, overshadowing everything around it and my irritation with its obviousness spoilt the last three-quarters of the book for me. I should add that I'm usually the last one to spot impending plot developments!

[Maddie · Rating 2 out of 5]

would have been really good if not for the unnecessary slurs that were thrown in there. disappointed. i keep editing this review because i genuinely don’t know how to sum up my thoughts

[Literary Relish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sinking into a wonderful novel is the pastime of any true escapist and I can’t think of anything better than transporting myself to an entirely different place in an entirely different era. The year is 1740. Louise ‘Lou’ Fletcher lives a relatively serene and sheltered existence as a dairymaid on a farm in the Essex countryside; grafting alongside her weather-worn mother and young sister. Weary of the bustling harbour towns and raging seas that lured both her father and brother away from their family, Louise is content with her lot in life. That is, of course, until she is ‘talent spotted’ by the farm owner’s brother; a great sea-captain after a lady’s maid for his wayward daughter Rebecca. Thus starts a life in the thriving port town of Harwich, taking Lou far away from her corner of comfort and thrusting her into a life fraught with opportunities and emotions she could never have imagined in her wildest dreams…

Luke, on the other hand, is a young man in trouble. Press-ganged by the Royal Navy and en-route to fight a war that isn’t his, the Essex is a terrifying place to be. Billowing sails, rolling decks and cavernous, contaminated holds, this is about the survival of the fittest. With barely any time to pine after the sweetheart he left behind, Luke must transform himself into the filthiest of all tars and fast. His existence couldn’t be further from that of Worsley’s young dairymaid stumbling through life on shore.

The cover of this book may be utterly tantalising and oh so stylish, however, this is happily not a case of all good looks and no substance. She Rises has been a joy to read and is an accomplished first novel. Alternation between the romantic, Pirates of the Caribbean-style smugglers’ town and the tension of a prisoner’s life at sea keeps the story fresh and exciting and the drama unfolding. Viewing this rolling and swaying world from the point of view of two people who start our story as Mr/Miss Ordinary allows us to delight in their extraordinary tales all the more. This is a tale of great danger and sacrifice, intrigue and identity, full of humanity with a few key characters (e.g. Luke’s shipmate Nick) frozen in time in their full gory glory to incite great shock, awe and sympathy from the reader. Lou and Luke live in seemingly entirely separate worlds leading entirely separate lives and the moment when these two narratives, previously co-existing in harmony, collide, it is with a delicacy and skill from the author that allows for maximum shock from the reader…

There will no doubt, due to the style and subject matter of this exciting new novel, be countless comparisons made between Worsley and her mentor Sarah Waters. Indeed the similarities do seem uncanny, particularly having only just read one of Waters’ books myself recently. However, this a standalone adventure story that betrays great imagination, great heart and if this is what they call a début novel, then I am very excited to see what comes next…

http://relishreads.wordpress.com/2013...

[Jessica McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was both a phenomenal book and a slightly infuriating one. It was very difficult to get into and it took about 200 pages (half the book) for me to actually truly enjoy reading it. I normally would have put it down by then but based on its reviews I was determined to finish it, and boy am I glad I did. So, here are some pros and cons to reading Worsley's debut novel:

Cons: It feels like there is no purpose or goal in the plot, even the blurb doesn't give anything away. The secondary characters feel very 2D and don't have much development.

Pros: The author is an absolute genius. I had a few theories of where the story was going (based on reviews I'd read) and I ended up being completely wrong. The main character voices are expertly written and the author clearly did her research on the setting.

Warnings: Some of the content is quite confronting, but normal in the context of the characters and the 18th century.

[For Books' Sake · Rating 2 out of 5]

"She Rises is a briny, sea-shanty take on Tipping The Velvet, complete with twisting plot, characters who rise and fall in station with the turn of every page, an evocative period setting, and – oh yes – cross-dressing young women and lesbian love affairs. Yet Worsley lacks anything like the storytelling flair and panache of her mentor, and here, sadly, the similarities end." Excerpt from full review at For Books' Sake.)

[Bree T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Louise is a young milkmaid, learning the tricks of the trade under the careful tutelage of Mary. She’s from a poor family – her brother and father have been lost at sea and her mother works in the fields, doing a man’s work. She has a sister as well and it’s believed that Susie might make a lady’s maid. However when the Captain comes, it’s Louise he wants. He takes Louise to be a maid to his youngest daughter Rebecca. When Rebecca weds a seaman, she will need someone with her to take into her new household and it is planned for that someone to be Louise.

Louise didn’t know what to expect when she met her new mistress but Rebecca was hardly what you’d think of as a genteel young woman. She is spoiled, overindulged, cossetted and has clearly never lifted a finger in her life. But it doesn’t take long before Louise is hopelessly devoted to her mistress, forsaking even visiting her gravely ill mother to remain by Rebecca’s side. And when Rebecca becomes gravely ill herself, it is Louise who sacrifices everything so that she might save her. It’s a big risk but it is one that Louise is willing to make and it only strengthens the already unique bond between them.

Luke Fletcher is a young lad who was drinking in a tavern when he was swept up into His Majesty’s Navy in a raid of compulsary conscription. He’s never been on a ship before and he’s utterly desperate to abandon this nightmare and get back to the woman he loves so dearly but that isn’t an option. There are wars on and manpower is needed. Luke is beaten, starved, tormented and worst of all, held prisoner on the warship Essex. He becomes the favourite of a big sailor named Nick who mans the large billowing sails. It’s a trecherous job, requiring skill and the absolute ability to back yourself on the ropes high up in the air. To stumble is disaster and Luke battles his own fear when it becomes clear that Nick wants to train him up to do the sails. This could be a chance for him to rise above the taunts and the harsh treatment by the other seamen, if only he can gather the nerve.

Lou and Luke inhabit entirely different worlds and at first glance they could not be more different. Lou is learning how to be a maid but mostly she spends her days getting to know Rebecca and taking care of her in any way that Rebecca desires. Luke is desperate to escape his situation and get away from the hellhole that is the Essex. But in order to do that he will have to reveal the secret he has kept so closely guarded. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

She Rises begins in 1740 and introduces us to Lou, a rather quiet dairymaid on a farm and Luke, a teenager swept up into service into the Navy. The narrative alternates between the two with a first person perspective for Lou but third person for Luke. When Lou gets the opportunity to go and work for the Captain as a maid to his youngest daughter, she also vows to find out what happened to her brother, who went away to sea when Lou was rather young and was never seen nor heard from again. She’s never forgotten him and a desire to find him, or at least find out what happened to him, has been strong within her and even after people try and dissuade her, she still persists in trying to find out what she wants to know.

Worsley writes in a lovely, descriptive fashion and takes time to introduce her characters and build their relationships. If there’s any criticism for this book it’s that she perhaps takes a little too much time in the first half of the book. As the two narratives move forward towards a certain point, that point for me is where this book went from simply being a pleasant read to being a whoa! type of read. It was extremely clever and thought out the way in which the author constructed the story so that the reader was drawn to one conclusion and then neatly swung that around to reveal another. The latter part of the book is very good and was completely unexpected. However the first part could do with some tightening – there’s a lot of chapters devoted to Louise running around after Rebecca and worshiping her (and this is very important for their relationship but perhaps there didn’t need to be so much of it) and Luke’s misery on the ship and the games and politics between the other sailors, most of which he happens to loathe. I found it very easy to sympathise with Luke, even from the very beginning. Press-ganged into His Majesty’s Service with no desire or skill to do the job, consigned to a life at sea which he may not survive, surrounded by drunks, bullies, rapists and pedophiles. The life of a 1700′s sailor is a bawdy one and consent doesn’t seem to factor into many things and everyone is riddled with all types of the pox. It’s a bleak and miserable life, one which will require serious effort to escape. The punishment for desertion is death and sometimes you can see why some take that risk.

She Rises is a very promising debut that weaves a delicate and fascinating story that simply gets better the further you get into the book. I have to admit, I’m in two minds about the ending. I’m not sure if I liked it or not – I understand it and I think on one hand, it’s rather powerful and quite poignant. But on the other, as a reader, it could be a bit of a letdown.

[Kiera Sauter · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book doesn’t deserve it’s pretty cover. Absolutely horrific book that I am not even sure I can bring myself to donate. One of those books that makes you think “Is this author ok?” “What made you hate women, trans people, people of color, gay men, lesbians,…. Everyone.” “Do you know any part of a boat other than a Mizzen mast?” I said WTF almost more than any other book I’ve read before. 10/10 do not recommend.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

3½ stars (given it 4 because Goodreads doesn't let you do halves)

It was the beautiful cover that first drew me to She Rises by Kate Worsley. I spotted it on a shelf in a bookshop, read the blurb, and decided to give it a go. The blurb hinted that this book was going to give a less often seen perspective on an interesting historical period (this is not about the glamour of balls and moneyed gentlemen, but the somewhat grubby, lower-class foundations overshadowed by it), as well as drama, romance and maybe even a spot of mystery. In 1740, Louise Fletcher, a naive dairy maid from the country, becomes the maid of a wealthy captain's daughter in a bustling port city. Her mother asks her to see if she can find out what happened to her brother, Luke, said to have been "stolen by the sea", but Louise is somewhat distracted by her new mistress...

I can't say much more than that without giving everything away. So on to my review. It was an interesting concept. Clearly a lot of research went into the historical setting (though I confess I'm not sure how accurate the gender issue is - particularly the way Louise handles it). The voices and language used sound very authentic and give a wonderful flavour to the writing, as does the unique, descriptive turns of phrase. As far as language and the technical side of writing goes, I'd say Worsley does a superb job.

She also does a very good job building up the characters of Louise and Luke, and most of the secondary characters. They are interesting and believable, fleshed out with subtlety. The only character I felt let down with was Rebecca, who seemed far too unlikable for me to understand Louise's feelings toward her.

The interweaving storylines of Louise and Luke are a good idea and I think the story is much better with that structure than it would be without it. However, I don't think that structure was executed as well as it could have been. The stories are too separate for too long, seemingly very disconnected with only a very tenuous, static link which is never expanded on or developed. And then in the space of a page and a half the two storylines collide into each other with a crash and a bang and quickly tumble together to the conclusion. Yes, it was the main and surprising plot twist, and yes, it was a climax, but, as with all climaxes, it's always better with anticipation. I feel like I would have gotten much more satisfaction out of it if there had been more hints and clues leading up to it, even if they had been subtle ones. I felt apprehension as the two stories played out (and not apprehension about how the stories are connected, but rather about the two separate and probably dreadful fates I had imagined for the two characters), but not anticipation.

I also felt that while Louise's story develops nicely, Luke's does not progress at all until the aforementioned plot-collision, simply going through different reiterations of the same thing while waiting for Louise's storyline to catch up.

Because of that separateness, stagnancy, and abrupt move forward in the plot, I felt like the mystery hinted at in the blurb was not delivered at all. History, romance and drama, yes. Not so much mystery, because you are given all the answers to the mystery (how the two storylines connect) in a big rush just after you start to think there even is one.

Overall, I think it was a well-written novel with a great flavour-filled voice and an interesting story that was handled well, but not as well as it could have been. If you're interested in this period of history and/or in gender and identity dramas, then I'd recommend reading it.

Also, it has sex scenes. Just thought I'd let people know in case that swings them one way or the other ;)

[Fariha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up thinking that it was your ordinary pirate boy / land girl romance where they both end up traversing the seas. And the blurb introduces the two main characters, Luke, who is press ganged into Navy service, and Louise, who has gone to work as a lady's maid in a busy seaport, and follows with the fact that this book is full of adventure and love so what was I supposed to think?! So you go into this book all - "yeah this is the typical nautical trash that I can't get enough of" but ITS NOT TYPICAL AND ITS NOT WHAT YOU ARE EXPECTING AT ALL.

The narrative alternates with each chapter, with Louise's chapters written in second person as she addresses someone: "you were there" , "how could I tell you" etc. Luke's chapters are narrated in third person but present tense which I really hate in a book, so like "he stirs" , "he wipes his sweat" etc. So it's already really kind of disjointed and for me personally, I hate second person narrative so it was a real downer for me. Add to this the fact that Luke's chapters were so boring I skipped them all - legit skipped them ALL except the last one, the fact that the two different narratives take ten billion years to seem to have any relation to each other, and the slowest pacing I have ever come across, and you get this book.

The characters are all really bad too, Becca is horrible - like actually a terrible person she's so mean how do people like her? Louise is annoying and quite obsessive which was even more annoying, and I don't know anything about Luke because I skipped all his chapters except the first one where he's awake and confused. So he's my favourite out of them all I guess.

A lot of people say that this book resonates with a real love for the sea, which you can kinda grasp from the way that the town that Louise lives in gets really high tides that come into the streets and effectively controls people's lives. (Did I say "kinda grasp"? I meant just about see). Also I read somewhere that the alternating chapters mimics the rhythmic lapping of sea waves or s/t. I mean what?! Call me cheap or unappreciative of intelligent allegories and metaphoric structures but when I pick up a book about the sea I'm looking for a specific kind of book. And maybe that's just me being super specific, but I need more interaction with the bloody sea, and narrated in a way that doesn't put me to sleep (she tears her hair from the annoyance of PRESENT TENSE FREAKING THIRD PERSON WHO DOES THAT). And maybe some pirates, some internal ship politics as well as relations to other ships, and just some overall nautical marauding.

So why give it 3 stars Fariha? I'm glad you asked. This book has a hell of a twist I mean holy shit I didn't see that coming.

Or maybe I was so unprepared because I skipped all of Luke's chapters, which was essentially half the book.

[Sid Nuncius · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an enjoyable book which is excellent in places, although I do have some reservations. Set in the mid-18th century, it takes the form of two intercut narratives. One is a third person account of Luke, a young boy press-ganged into the Royal Navy and his subsequent adventures, and the other a first person account by Louise, a Suffolk dairymaid who goes into service as a lady's maid with a rich Harwich family. The stories are well told, especially in the latter half of the book, and eventually form a very engrossing narrative of adventure and a powerful love story. I don't want to give away any more and strongly recommend that you try to avoid spoilers for this book: the way in which the two stories are linked emerges slowly and is one of the most interesting parts of reading it.

Kate Worsley has created interesting characters and can write very well. I found her account of the life of a pressed man in the Navy excellent (and a fine complement to the officer-focused tales of Forester or O'Brian.) She generates a good atmosphere and some parts, like the passage where Luke goes aloft to take in sail for the first time for example, are simply excellent.

I have two reservations about this book. The first is with Louise's narrative voice, which, at the beginning of the novel in particular, ends up being in neither Worsley's own enjoyably literary style nor that of a rural girl in 1740. There are phrases thrown in like, "She was that bit older than me, see," while most of the narrative is more of the style of Louise seeing the sea for the first time: "It was the lack of boundary that unnerved me. I had never seen water so wide, distance so unbounded." The two styles clashed very badly and prevented me from hearing the voice of a credible character. The second reservation is that the beginning of the book in particular needs some tightening up and could have done with being a good deal shorter. The opening is terrific, but Louise's story in particular took an age to become at all involving, and I found it a bit of a slog getting to page 150 or so. After that it really took off, though, and I enjoyed it very much.

These flaws didn't ruin it by any means, but did detract from what could have been a very good book indeed. This is still very well worth reading - eventually it is a very good historical novel, but I found it took quite some effort to get through the first third of it.

[Darlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

In She Rises by Kate Worsley we meet Louise Fletcher in the year 1740 living on an Essex farm as a dairymaid. When she is offered a job as a lady’s maid to a wealthy captain’s daughter in the naval port of Harwich she jumps at the chance to get away. Louise is captivated by her new mistress Rebecca. Rebecca is so different from anyone Louise has ever known in her life including herself. At first Rebecca is horrified at the thought of having a dairy maid as her lady’s maid but slowly Louise wins her over especially after she cares for Rebecca when she contracts small pox. As time goes on their relationship deepens and the two find, in each other, something they’ve never found in anyone else. But time and circumstance have a way of changing things and the two are torn from each other.

Then we have Louise’s brother Luke who, at fifteen, has been forced into the Majesty’s Navy while he had been drinking at a local tavern. He is beaten and when he comes to he finds himself on the Essex and at sea. Luke knows right off he doesn’t belong there. He isn’t made to be a seaman but he also doesn’t want to be beaten again. He’s smart enough to know that he has to mind his own business, ingratiate himself with the right people, and most of all follow orders. The only thing that matters to Luke is getting back to the girl he left behind. However Luke stands out from the other men though and soon enough this puts him in a very precarious position in which he ultimately makes a decision that can change his life.

At this point I will say that there is a twist in the story that did surprise me and one I didn’t see coming at all. Overall I enjoyed this novel. I found the beginning slow going although interesting enough to keep going and I’m glad I did because the second half of the book picks up a great deal and I didn’t want to put it down until I knew what was happening. I was much more drawn to Louise’s story than Luke’s and would have liked the focus on only Louise but having finished the book I can see now why that would have been impossible. The story of Louise and Luke are entwined in such a way that one can’t be told without the other. She Rises is a novel that takes you from the harshness of the sea to an engrossing love story. As a note for some though there are some scenes of sexual content that some readers may find disturbing.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ending of this book broke my heart, but in a different way from what I'd been expecting. Really nothing about this was what I was expecting, but I did really enjoy it (despite my expectations). While I like historical fiction, reading anything before (or during) the industrial revolution is weirdly stressful, so I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this. I'm also not super into ships. You may be wondering why I picked this up, honestly it was a little bit of an impulse buy based on the cover and wanting a forbidden romance. This book does have one of those, and while it wasn't what I was expecting, it was done really well. I appreciate a lot of what this book is. Really it's about a young person discovering who they are.

It's clear about a quarter of the way through that Lou and Luke are the same person, and from that point on, I was really curious about who Lou/Luke wanted to be. I really enjoyed the quiet exploration of gender, and of love. However, I wanted to stop reading at page 400. I was so worried it was going to end sadly, and it definitely did. I'd actually call it bittersweet, rather than outright sad, and those are always the endings that really get to me. It's devastating because Luke discovered who he was, and also discovered that meant leaving behind the woman he loved. I wish he could have left her in a better position (I assume he's going back to the sea), but I can also imagine trying to hide constantly put a strain on their relationship, plus all he went through would have left incredible emotional scars. Anyway, I understood his actions, feel terrible for Becca, and do wish it had ended a little happier (or at least with Becca in a better position).

I wish there had been an historical note left at the very end. I always like reading about how accurate things were to reality, and how the author did research. It would have been especially interesting in this case given the spoilery parts, and who all the characters turn out to be.

I would recommend this to fans of the TV show Black Sails While there aren't pirates, there's lots of sea talk and ships, and some of the themes outsiders in society (LGBT people in 1700s) are similar.

[Joanne Sheppard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worsley was apparently mentored by Sarah Waters during the writing of this book, and it certainly has a lot in common with novels like Tipping The Velvet and Fingersmith as well as Carol Birch's Jamrach's Menagerie. It's the often dark, frequently surprising historical tale of an estranged brother and sister. Louise, a rural dairy maid is sent to the port of Harwich to become lady's maid to the spoilt, unpredictable daughter of a wealthy naval captain. Luke, at the age of 15, disappears without trace after being press-ganged in a tavern and forced to go to sea with the Royal Navy.

At first, I found Luke's story much more involving than Louise's, not least because its very premise is so terrifying, but as Louise's relationship with her capricious, calculating mistress Rebecca takes a more intense turn, I began to find her equally fascinating (although not necessarily likeable at times, and capable of some infuriatingly questionable decisions, she's all the more interesting for that). Both Luke and Louise are thrown into utterly unfamiliar worlds and forced to make sense of new and challenging surroundings as well as forming unusual relationships, some not entirely healthy, and watching them grow in confidence and strength of character is a pleasure. When the stories of Louise and Luke finally converge in a highly original way, it's extremely effective, if not entirely unforeseen.

She Rises is a truly gripping story of gender, sexuality, class and the mysterious power of the sea, and it has all the brilliantly vivid evocation of time and place that I love to see in historical fiction. The sights, sounds and smells of an 18th century naval ship, unpleasant as they are, are brought to life with immense skill, as are the narrative points of view of Louise and Luke. Excellent stuff and almost impossible to put down - I read this beautifully written, compelling novel well into the night to finish it.

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really compelling to read. The descriptions pulled me in and I got a real sense of the location/atmosphere. There's a lot of ship terminology that I had to look up in order to make any sense of the boat scenes lol. And I guess I'm just dumb because I was shocked by the twist?? But then all the "clues" placed in earlier chapters made sense and I went "OoOhhhh that's why it was worded like that" *facepalm*

I was going back and forth between a 3 and 4 star rating in my head while reading. I settled on 3.5 (rounded up to 4 because my feelings skew positive). My rating went down at the end because there's no explanation for the narrative perspective: it's written "to" Rebecca from a future point recounting what happened. I thought by the end there would be some sort of clue to say that one day Rebecca will "read" this and know the truth of Louise's journey. But that doesn't happen so I don't understand why it was written in this style if there's no resolution on that point. Off of that, I thought the ending was a bit abrupt and I'm not sure what it's trying to "tell" me about love/gender/relationships/etc.

And off of ThAt, can someone explain the ending to me? Am I just dense? does Louise/Luke go off to die??? Or just on another seafaring adventure? Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I'm really annoyed that it ends so abruptly. The narrative is written in such a wistful, sentimental way I was expecting a more hopeful ending. But since it's not that, how/who is this narrative being told to? Can I at least know that Rebecca will learn these truths? It's almost frustrating. But I have to admit that the narrative was deeply compelling up until the end, so my feelings there don't impact my rating too negatively.

[Carolinemawer · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's more than a little tempting to rattle along with this since it starts out as a splendid, layered tale - and I loved all the sailing talk, and especially the time high up the mast
But, for me, there was a little too much not-that-exciting sex - and some of the characters seemed too inconsistent.
SPOILER ALERT!!

How come Becca changed from being supremely imperial to being happy in a tiny remote cottage? Would the trauma and smoothed-over pockmarks of smallpox really have done that to a woman with such great love of lying around in luxury? I just didnt think so.
Then again, why was Becca ever interested in Lou? Even more surprising - what was the continuing attraction of the snobby and self-centred Becca for Lou? After all, if Lou met one woman with something good under her skirt, didnt she ever think there were more and similar to be found?
Poor Nick, too. The King of the main-mast - surely he wouldn't just have protected 'Luke'? As a broken man, would he / could he really have made such a sacrifice to help Luke escape?
How come the Marines and tars who raped women so brutally at the beginning of the book let Lou/Luke walk by on the island?
Overall, the Lou / Luke thing was maybe a bit too clever clever clunky for me!
And all those story points made it difficult for me to really enjoy the gloriously evocative writing.
So if this is the author's first book - I want to see more!

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

She Rises is a book that draws you in from the very first sentence. Much like the young protagonist, Luke, you feel a touch off center and confused at first but as you follow his story and that of the second character, Louise. The two stories get told side by side until it all comes together in a most surprising way - no spoilers from me!

Each story is compelling with richly drawn characters and plots that slowly draw towards each other. Ms. Worsley has a way with descriptive prose; I don't know if she ever went to sea but she sure knows how to make her readers go there with her words. Not to mention into the sails! The sections involving Luke's travails were both the ones I liked least and most - sort that out if you will. They were the hardest to read due to the way he was "offered his position" in His Majesty's Navy and yet the most thrilling.

Louise's side of the tale took a bit to get going but once it did it too, was a joy to read. Her story did not take off as quickly as Luke's but it became - after a bit - just as enthralling. As the book came to its conclusion I was turning the pages as fast as I could. I'm keeping this for a second read. I think Luke and Louise will give me further entertainment and insights upon a calmer go-round with foreknowledge of the ending.

A very diverting, fascinating, well drawn historical novel.

[Lady Olenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is wildly amusing. I cannot begin to explain how mind-blown I am (in a good way). First of, the writing was just...amazing! The detail in which the author describes life in a boat, the technicalities of it all. I couldn't even comprehend what those men were doing half the time (since I have zero background or inclination towards boats). The language. Again, I am left just bewildered by how authentic it sounded in my head (I am no linguistics expert just fyi) especially Old Nick. What gripped me was the horrors the sex workers/women had to endure during those times to earn a coin. There was a particular scene in the boat that makes me blanch just thinking about it. The author did not shelter the readers from the reality of that time.

Like the story I am still feeling adrift, floating with a current of emotions I cannot name. This book, from the get go has me feeling polarised sentiments. I didn't feel safe with the comfort that this book had a sure happy ending because the characters were too complex to be boxed in as, 'ah yes she's vain so she's stuck in that narrative', there's too much humanness in all of the characters, thus, any assuredness is not guaranteed.

Despite me not knowing how to make sense of the ending, I thoroughly enjoyed the adventures of Louise, Rebecca and Luke.

[Nairne Holtz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in the 1740s, She Rises is a gritty, atmospheric historical novel that braids together two narratives to offer a modern story about the migration of identity. The first storyline takes place on land, a bustling seaport, where Louise, a teenage girl from the countryside, is hired to be a maid to the daughter of a wealthy captain. The daughter, Becca, is a spoiled brat, but Louise, the sympathetic narrator, is nonetheless captivated by her beauty and sophistication. When misfortune strikes and Becca begins to reveal the reasons for her behaviour, the two women are brought closer together into a forbidden relationship. Meanwhile, in a parallel storyline, which occurs at sea, a young man, Luke, has been press-ganged and forced into the service of a navy warship. This second storyline is a bit of a slog but becomes more energetic and interesting when the ‘twist’ is revealed. It’s a twist that attentive queer readers will spot early on, and in my opinion the book would have been far stronger without it. Queer and transgender readers would also have benefited if this book had been marketed for what it is—a vivid exploration of what it might have been like to be a trans man centuries ago travelling between land and sea, and womanhood and manhood.

[Amelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I could not have begun to make you understand. What good is the truth, I thought, when there are so many secrets already? I have survived it all, and I have found you again, that must be enough."

Kate Worsley's She Rises offers a stealthy look into the lives of a buttermaid turned servant and her sailor brother. Louise attempts to rise above her station and accepts a position for the Harwich family to be Rebecca's servant, she does not know what she is in for: she neither knows the politics surrounding how she came into her position, nor did she ever expect to love Rebecca with such passion. Intertwined with her brother's story, as he learns the ropes of ships and docking and the ways of dirty men who have long forgotten the touch of a woman, Louise slowly comes to terms with not just her new life as a servant, but a newer life, a better life spent as a man so that she can provide for herself and Rebecca.

Through engagements, pox, and high tides, Louise's journey through young womanhood is an unexpected one, and something surely entirely unheard of in the 1740s.

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really engrossing read. And also sometimes gross. (SMALLPOX, OH LORD.) I didn't love it, but whenever I picked it up, I felt compelled to read as much as possible. I think the characters were why I didn't love this book, as I didn't care much about them or understand their relationships and motivations.

Also... after the last 50 pages or so I really don't think I can put this on my lesbian shelf? It definitely belongs on my general queer shelf, but considering that Lou seemed to fully transition into being Luke full-time by the end (and not just for appearance's sake, since even Becca used that name), putting it on a shelf called "woman-loving women" seems inaccurate.