Detransition, Baby

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters is a groundbreaking novel that delves into the lives of three characters entangled in a complex web of relationships and identities. Reese is a trans woman who once had the dream life: a loving relationship with her partner Amy, an apartment in New York City, and a fulfilling job. Despite all this, she longed for a child, a desire she thought could complete her happiness. However, everything disintegrated when Amy detransitioned to become Ames.

Years later, Reese continues to navigate life in a self-destructive cycle, hooked on sleeping with married men to ease her loneliness. Meanwhile, Ames, who believed himself to be infertile, has started an affair with his boss, Katrina. To his surprise, Katrina finds herself pregnant. Now, Ames faces a different future, one that forces him to reconnect with Reese and consider an unconventional way of parenting.

As Reese, Ames, and Katrina navigate the seemingly impossible idea of forming a family, the novel confronts profound questions about gender, motherhood, and what it means to create a family in a society that often seems hostile to non-traditional structures. Peters masterfully tackles themes of identity, love, and the deep-seated human desire for connection in a narrative that is both tender and incisively witty.

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021
February 2021 Book of the Month for Roxane Gay's Book Club

"Irresistible ... Detransition, Baby is the first great trans realist novel" - Guardian

"A voraciously knowing, compulsively readable novel" - Chris Kraus

"Tremendously funny and sexy as hell" - Juliet Jacques

Praise for Detransition, Baby continues to acclaim it as a powerful and thought-provoking read. Carmen Maria Machado calls it, "So good I want to scream," underscoring the emotional and narrative potency that Peters brings to this exceptional book.