FADE INTO YOU

It’s 1999, and two young women forced together by circumstance hatch a plan that changes their lives more than they could have anticipated.

When Elizabeth “Bird” Nardino comes home from a summer writing workshop ready to begin her senior year and eager to share newly discovered secrets with her best friend, Kayla, she realizes she isn’t the only one who’s changed. Kayla now has a new boyfriend, Dade, who has inspired her to adopt a new look—and unhealthy dieting habits. Kayla has also isolated herself from their friend group and is unable to focus on anyone or anything but Dade. The Kayla that Bird knew seems gone, at least when Dade is around. When Bird meets Dade’s best friend, Jessa Papadopoulos, and learns that she feels the same way about Kayla’s role in Dade’s life, she doesn’t hesitate to propose a plan: They should work together to break the couple up. Despite their stark personality differences, Bird and Jessa soon find themselves drawn together for reasons beyond their connections to Kayla and Dade, discovering that beneath the surface, they have more in common than expected. This novel blends early millennial references—record stores, Y2K anxiety, Dexatrim, Columbine, and roller rinks—with a thoughtful, if often uncomfortable, reflection on how society once approached mental health and sexual identity, exposing outdated norms and attitudes that often turned ugly and dangerous. Main characters are cued white.

A real, sometimes uneasy, reflection on love and identity.