“Did Jimmy just kiss you?” my brother Ellis asked.
“Yeah. So?” I stared at my brother. “Right there.” I touched my cheek and waited for him to say something.
My sister looked up from her magazine and stared at me. I waited for her to say something to embarrass me.
“That’s very European, kids,” said my father to my brother and sister. “I’m glad you made a good friend, kiddo."
SAINT AUGUSTA
SYNOPSIS
In the summer of 1972, the liberal North family moves to Augusta, Georgia, an old-fashioned Southern town, intending to improve their lives and everyone’s lives around them. While gay eleven-year-old Billy’s siblings are preoccupied with sports and ballet, Mr. North dodges the political minefields at his new job, and Mrs. North is laser-focused on her ghetto-teaching gig. Billy is left to fend for himself and find his own way through puberty and the challenges of making new friends and avoiding new enemies in a new and very Catholic neighborhood. An eccentric host of guardian angels take Billy under their wings: an edgy neighborhood teen-aged girl, the family’s new housekeeper, a mysterious invalid next door, and Jimmy, Billy’s new Broadway-savvy soul-mate from a children’s theatre production where Billy is accidentally cast and discovers a second home and his first true love. Assisted by his new friends, Billy starts his journey of mind, body, and soul, convinced his own personal three miracles to sainthood are hidden in his world while enduring the nightmare of neighborhood bullies, measuring his blessings against curses every step of the way. Taking place against the backdrop of The Masters' golf tournament in Augusta, Billy learns that growing up means becoming a master of his own fate, even if it means making counter-intuitive choices based on revenge. When Billy’s father becomes the victim of his own good intentions and a local persona non grata, the family is forced to leave town. Billy learns that growing up means fathoming a broken heart and learning how to say goodbye to those he loves. In the end, Billy empowers himself, gets vengeance on the bullies, and innocently embraces his sexuality without fear or shame.
Saint Augusta is a 75,000-word coming-of-age novel told in first-person about Billy North, an eleven-year-old gay kid who begins his coming of age shortly after his family moves to the Deep South in the early 70s; The Ice Storm meets To Kill a Mockingbird.
Saint Augusta is a quick-witted, nostalgic novel about embracing authenticity in the post-Vietnam, Watergate-obsessed, Age of Aquarius, no matter where or who you are - and finding your most saint-like spiritual self along the way.