SWEET CLARITY

Because of the fallout of “the Incident,” Clarity Jones keeps her relationship with Hannah Fitzpatrick a secret.

At Camp Refuge, a Christian summer camp run by her family’s church, Clarity (who’s Black) grows closer to fellow camp counselor and classmate Hannah (who’s cued white), discovering a part of herself that just feels right. But when they’re caught kissing by other counselors, Clarity experiences the sting of her peers’ disapproval of her sexuality—something she still doesn’t have totally figured out. One thing she knows is that she’s not ready to come out to her Baptist parents, so she avoids Hannah for the last week of camp. Clarity’s senior year becomes a series of obstacles, testing her ability to keep her secret: Her best friend, Kristen, tries to set her up with a boy; the camp director, Mrs. Patricia, who knows about what happened with Hannah, wants Clarity to be her Sunday school assistant; and Clarity is forced to be around Hannah because they’re co-presidents of their school’s festival committee. While aspiring to embody her name, Clarity also yearns to figure things out at her own pace, offering a refreshingly honest reminder that developing self-knowledge is a complex and nuanced journey. Her anxiety over being outed, her struggle with faith, and the impact of hiding her true self from the most important people in her life unequivocally tugs at the heart.

A heartwarming and introspective story about coming out while coming of age.