Tell the Rest

Two queer people who escaped Christian conversion therapy as teens find their way back to each other as adults in the keenly observed latest from Bledsoe (The Evolution of Love). Delia, who is white, was 13 when she ran away from Celebration Camp with 16-year-old Ernest, who is Black. Twenty-five years later, they’re successful in their respective fields—Delia as a college women’s basketball coach, Ernest as a poet—but they both carry deep wounds from the conversion therapy and neither have any idea where the other ended up. The collapse of Delia’s marriage and the loss of her job send her back to her hometown of Rockside, Ore., to coach the high school girl’s basketball team. Earnest, who is teaching in Portland, reads about Delia’s return in the newspaper. After they reunite, they grapple with their anger and anguish, which include memories of a fellow camper at Celebration who was punished for his defiance. Ernest’s story line is less developed than Delia’s, though Bledsoe paints an engrossing and complicated picture of small-town life and queer survival. Even if this doesn’t reach its full potential, it’s nevertheless a triumph of compassion. Agent: Reiko Davis, DeFiore & Co. (Mar.)