Long Story Short

Brimming with wit, optimism, and adolescence’s seemingly never-ending awkwardness, Kaylor’s humorous debut follows one reserved, previously homeschooled teenager’s attempts to make friends and come into her own at a theater summer camp. White 16-year-old Californian Beatrice Quinn, who graduated high school at 14, has just gotten into the University of Oxford, her dream college. Her parents, however, don’t think she’s ready to live abroad alone. Desperate to leave the nest, Bea strikes a deal with her parents: if she will step out of her comfort zone and socialize at a theater camp, they’ll let her attend Oxford. Once she arrives at the Connecticut Shakespearean Summer Academy, she meets extroverted Mia, her Black and bisexual roommate, as well as white Nolan, Mia’s gay “best camp friend” and costumer extraordinaire. Though she feels in over her head, Bea—with Mia and Nolan’s guidance—slowly comes out of her shell and develops a crush on Indian-cued Nikhil Shah, the handsome son of world-famous stage actors. Bea’s evolution from isolated academic to social butterfly, and her myriad cringe-worthy and applause-inducing trials and tribulations, are thoughtfully rendered, and a large, idiosyncratic cast populate her transformative whirlwind summer. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (July)