When you find the book that gives you the resilience, strength, and willingness to be yourself.

Today we meet Louisa Hext and we’re talking about the queer book that saved her life: Ruby Fruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown.

Louisa is a transformational coach, speaker, and mediator with over 30 years of experience helping individuals and families navigate forgiveness, healing, and personal growth. Drawing from her research and nearly 13 years as the curator of a highly regarded traveling photographic exhibition on forgiveness, Louisa has been privileged to guide countless individuals through profound emotional healing. Her coaching practice is built on empathy, deep curiosity, and a non-judgmental approach, creating a safe space for her clients to explore their unique stories and unlock their potential for growth and transformation.

Ruby Fruit Jungle is a ground-breaking coming-of-age novel from one of America's most distinctive voices. It is a transformative work which tells the story of Molly Bolt, an adopted daughter of a Southern couple who boldly forges her own queer path in America.

Connect with Louisa

Website: embraceforgiveness.com

Our Bookshop

Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook

Buy your own copy of Ruby Fruit Jungle: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9781101965122

Become an Associate Producer!

Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook

Credits

Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian
Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith
Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard.
Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson

Quatrefoil Library

Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1

It's a new year, so we hope you enjoy our new format and theme song. Be sure to support us on Patreon, buy the books we feature on the show through our bookshop, or read them through Quatrefoil Library's free e-library. Links in the shows and on our website.

Support the show

A new episode of This Queer Book Saved My Life drops next week on February 4! In our off weeks, we air the most recent episode of The Gaily Show which J.P. hosts for AM950 Radio.

Dr. Kade Goepferd from Children’s Minnesota joins us to discuss healthcare for transgender youth to clear up the lies and to show what compassionate and science-based care is and how we support it.

Watch on YouTube

We're in video too! You can watch this episode at youtube.com/@thegailyshow

Credits

Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian
Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
Production and Distribution Support: Brett Johnson, AM950
Marketing/Advertising Support: Chad Larson, Laura Hedlund, Jennifer Ogren, AM950
Accounting and Creative Support: Gordy Erickson

It's a new year, so we hope you enjoy our new format and theme song. Be sure to support us on Patreon, buy the books we feature on the show through our bookshop, or read them through Quatrefoil Library's free e-library. Links in the shows and on our website.

Support the show

How do I keep going when my one support person isn't there for me anymore?

Today we meet Edwin Santos Lepiz and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera. And Adam joins us for the conversation!

Edwin is a gay first-generation Mexican-American graduate student at the University of Utah College of Social Work. Edwin is pursuing a Master of Social Work degree to pursue work at the intersection of language justice and suicide prevention utilizing stories such as those found in today's book as a tool to meet this goal.

Adam Silvera is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of They Both Die at the End, The First to Die at the End, More Happy Than Not, History Is All You Left Me, the Infinity Cycle trilogy, and the What If It's Us duology with Becky Albertalli. His novels have received many starred reviews. He previously worked in children’s publishing and bookselling.

History Is All You Left Me is a novel in which Griffin's first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident. Even though Theo had moved to California for college, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. But now, the future he's been imagining for himself has gone far off course. The only person who truly understands his heartache is Theo's new boyfriend, Jackson. Griffin's losing himself in his obsessive compulsions and destructive choices, and the secrets he's been keeping are tearing him apart. If Griffin is ever to rebuild his future, he must first confront his history, every last heartbreaking piece in the puzzle of his life.

Connect with Edwin and Adam
linkedin: linkedin.com/in/edwinsantoslepiz/
instagram: @esantoslepiz

website: adamsilvera.com
Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/adamsilvera.bsky.social
instagram: @adamsilvera

Our Bookshop
Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook

Buy your own copy of History Is All You Left Me: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9781641293174

Become an Associate Producer!
Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook

Credits
Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian
Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith
Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard.
Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson

Quatrefoil Library
Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link:

It's a new year, so we hope you enjoy our new format and theme song. Be sure to support us on Patreon, buy the books we feature on the show through our bookshop, or read them through Quatrefoil Library's free e-library. Links in the shows and on our website.

Support the show