A Place for Us: A Memoir

In activist and Pulse nightclub shooting survivor Wolf’s blazing debut, he recounts how growing up queer and mixed-race taught him the importance of safe community spaces, and how the 2016 tragedy he endured pushed him to dedicate his life to protecting them. Wolf grew up in a strict white household in rural Oregon, never meeting his Black biological father. After his mother’s death, Wolf felt like an outcast in his own home: “I was deep behind enemy lines.” Neither college nor his first jobs provided the sanctuary he dreamed of. Instead, Wolf moved to Orlando and finally felt the embrace of home at Pulse: “Before me was an ocean of beautiful Black people, gyrating their hips to the beat, carefree and full of life, everything I’d worried I couldn’t be if I embraced the truth of who I was.” Wolf lost both his best friend, Drew, and Drew’s partner, Juan, in the shooting, and he dedicates significant space to memorializing them before detailing how the massacre drove him to full-time activism. In stirring prose, Wolf mounts a testament to the power of community and a howling cry for justice. This is unforgettable. Agent: Jud Laghi, Jud Laghi Agency. (June)