It's 1968 and Emily Queen is freshly out of high school and freshly out of Texas, leaving her toxic mother behind without saying goodbye. She arrives in St. Louis in the hopes of finding her long-absent father and discovering more about her mother’s hidden history through a man she hasn’t seen or heard from since she was a child. Since her mother has raised her on a steady stream of lies, Emily is desperate to connect with her other parent, not knowing how he’ll react to learn she’s not only seeking him out but is in his town.
Emily is kind, vulnerable, but also tough and determined to find out more about who she is and learn why her mother has always kept her history hidden. More than that, being on her own as a very young woman, Emily must now come to terms with how and why she relies so heavily on God’s presence in her life while remembering painful moments from her childhood. Convinced God is always in her corner, she must also begin to wonder why he has given her the ability to be sexually interested in women—a part of her identity that comes into full, complicated bloom while on her journey.
This story delves into painful topics like sexual assault, child abuse and abandonment amidst the backdrop of the LGBTQ movement taking quiet shape in both St. Louis, but most especially California. Emily’s story is told with tenderness and respect, and we see firsthand how memory—both forgotten and resurfaced—play a critical role in how we see ourselves as adults.