Reader Score
75%
75% of readers
recommend this book
Critic Reviews
Good
Based on 3 reviews on
One day at work, Dawn discovers something hidden under the endpapers of an old book: the torn-off corner of a 1950s lesbian pulp novel, with an illustration of a woman looking into a mirror and seeing a man's face. Even more intriguing is the queer love letter written on the back. Dawn becomes obsessed with tracking down the author of the letter, convinced the mysterious writer can help her find a place in the world and also solve the trickiest puzzle of all: how she truly wants to live her life.
A sharply written, evocative debut, Endpapers is both a page-turning bookish mystery and an unforgettable story about the journey toward authenticity and the hard conversations we owe ourselves in pursuit of a world where no one has to hide.
"Endpapers is a coming-of-age story about growing as an artist and learning to trust and build relationships in a world that doesn’t want to make room for you... (It) feels timely, leading us to reflect on how far we’ve come in accepting differences and how far we still have to go"
Dahlia Adler is an author
@AshWrites Oh I’m so happy you loved it too!! The book I most associate it with in terms of content is VOW OF CELIBACY by Erin Judge, but I feel like it’s for different elements than you’re seeking. Maybe WE DO WHAT WE DO IN THE DARK? Also, coming Feb 7, ENDPAPERS by Jennifer Savran Kelly.
"Part portrait of the artist, part queer coming-of-age, and part investigative puzzle, this intimate, emotional novel parlays romance, passion, politics, and history into a compelling tale, beautifully and insightfully told. Jennifer Savran Kelly is an exciting, empathetic new voice."
--J. Robert Lennon, author of Subdivision and Let Me Think
"Endpapers is a richly imagined and moving novel about identity, desire, and art. Its characters are believable and engaging, its plot intriguing, but just as important is its urgent subtext, a plea for humans to break free from constricting labels and instead behold each other in all their thorny, unpredictable individuality; to love complexity and uncertainty, rather than ideology and order. This just might be the most urgent issue of our time, and Endpapers tackles it with energy and--that most apropos weapon--subtlety."
--Brian Hall, author of The Stone Loves the World
"Jennifer Savran Kelly's Endpapers immerses us in the world and mind of her engaging but struggling narrator Dawn--genderqueer, Jewish, a book conservator on a desperate search for queer role models and an artistic community. Endpapers is about the need to be fully seen--to locate oneself in the past in order to feel visible in the present. Savran Kelly is a masterful and compassionate storyteller, one who finds hope in the antidotes to hate and violence: community, art, authentic self. This is a book for all of us!"
--Lori Ostlund, author of After the Parade
"A mystery wrapped in a love story wrapped in an artist's coming of age, Endpapers is an ode to queer joy and the messiness of selfhood. With tenderness and insight, Jennifer Savran Kelly explores what we lose when we keep our innermost selves hidden--and what it means to forge an authentic life through art."
--Antonia Angress, author of Sirens Muses
"Jennifer Savran Kelly's Endpapers is the most personal novel about life as a gender-nonconforming person that I've ever read. It opens a window into what it's like to live in a world where you need to disguise who you are just to get along, and yet, at its heart, it remains an abundantly hopeful story. It's a story full of messy, true life. I'm so glad I read it."
--Claire Oshetsky, author of Chouette
"Achingly evocative and thoroughly satisfying, Jennifer Savran Kelly's Endpapers follows a genderqueer bookbinder through post-9/11 New York as she searches the city for answers about a long-hidden love letter and the outlines of her own identity. Part historical mystery, part meditation on the shifting nature of creativity and self, Endpapers is a story that bursts with warmth, community, and the sometimes-heartbreaking decisions we make when we begin to stitch together the spine of our lives."
--Katy Hays, author of The Cloisters
"Jennifer Savran Kelly's Endpapers is an accomplished, moving novel where the search for answers to a literary mystery doubles as the search for queer authenticity in a world of bindings: book bindings, artistic bindings, social bindings. With humor, tenderness, and honesty, Savran Kelly lays bare the struggle to find our brilliant, beautiful selves--and the courage to go forth boldly with them."
--Zak Salih, author of Let's Get Back to the Party