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Book Summary and Reviews of Where You'll Find Us by Jen St. Jude

Where You'll Find Us by Jen St. Jude

Where You'll Find Us

by Jen St. Jude

  • Critics' Consensus (6):
  • Published:
  • Jun 2026, 368 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

In this beautifully profound YA novel, a trans teen finds a home where queer kids from all different decades have found refuge from hatred-and from time.

Calla Quick has no future. At least, that's how it feels. Her parents disowned her via text message, and now she can't afford to go to an all-women's college with her girlfriend Ramona like they planned. But Calla wonders if maybe that's for the best-because even though Calla told Ramona her parents disowned her because they found out she's gay, the truth is, Calla has been questioning whether she's a girl at all.

Calla wishes she had more time to figure everything out, and one night, her wish is seemingly granted. When Calla and Ramona stumble upon a mysterious farmhouse the woods, they meet five teens who claim they've lived there for decades. The land, which they call Amaranth, acts as a safe haven for queer kids throughout history-a place free of hate, free of violence, free of time itself. Here, Calla can be Cal, and they feel instantly accepted. They don't have to worry about the future because at Amaranth, it will never come-until one night when the clock strikes twelve. Now under a literal ticking clock, the housemates must find a way to stop time again or face going back to their harsh realities, but as Cal learns everyone's story, they begin to wonder what queer people lose when their history is lost to time.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"[A] a layered, cathartic story...Intimate and graceful prose renders Cal's first-person narration punctuated by intermittent sections that chronicle the personal histories of Amaranth's residents, deftly portraying multiple facets of queer identity." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A deep and affirming exploration of the inevitability of change." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"This beautifully crafted narrative has a deep sense of LGBTQIA+ community across time and characters with richly detailed stories from a variety of cultural perspectives...Highly recommended." —School Library Journal (starred review)

"Sweet, soothing, and deliciously rewarding to the end." ―Booklist (starred review)

"A sweeping ode to queer history and resilience, Jen St. Jude's Where You'll Find Us shines as both a novel of immense heart and passion, and as the literary safe haven this moment in time so desperately calls for. This book won't just find you, it will inspire and heal you." ―Abdi Nazemian, Stonewall Award-winning author of Like a Love Story and Only this Beautiful Moment

"Where You'll Find Us is a beautiful swarm of queer history and self-discovery. I want to revel in Jen St. Jude's stories in every lifetime, across all timelines." ―Jas Hammonds, award-winning author of We Deserve Monuments

This information about Where You'll Find Us was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Jen St. Jude

Jen St. Jude (they/them) is the author of If Tomorrow Doesn't Come and Where You'll Find Us. They live near Chicago with people (and an old dog) they love.

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