When You Call My Name

Set in 1990 New York City, Shaw’s (Oh Yeah, Audrey!) bittersweet romance, told in alternating voices, traces the experiences of two white, gay teens grappling with life, love, and loss during the HIV/AIDS epidemic. When 17-year-old Adam, born and raised in the Village, falls hard for white musician Callum—who discloses his HIV-positive status after their first kiss, then disappears after they spend the night together—Adam’s anxiety spirals. Meanwhile, fashion-interested 18-year-old Ben, newly arrived from Poughkeepsie after his mother discovers that he’s gay, finds work with his brother’s photographer girlfriend. Adam and Ben cross each other’s paths regularly, slowly connecting as their story lines painstakingly detail Adam’s hospital visits to now-boyfriend Callum, whose illness progresses, and Ben’s first encounters with gay bars and Pride. Copious period-specific pop culture references pepper the novel, whose assured pacing and intimate tone balances elements of promise, possibility, and reality. In Adam and Ben, Shaw effectively captures the era’s feeling of pain, uncertainty, and liberation for the gay community. Ages 14–up. Agent: Dan Mandel, Sanford J. Greenburger. (May)