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In an alternate 1991, a fascist party has taken over the U.S. government, banning all “Anti-American Thought” and censoring almost all art. All Gigi wanted to do was spend her senior year a) getting laid, and b) rehearsing Henry VI with her high school theater club, the Thespians. When her best friend is murdered by the military police and their theater teacher dies by suicide, she decides to take over directing the forbidden production, meeting in secret with the Thespians to design, choreograph, and act in their own version of Shakespeare’s play about a civil war. But rumors are brewing throughout the town, and it’s hard to know what to believe or whom to trust when the wrong word to the wrong person can make you disappear. Narrated by her dead best friend and the first in a duology, this punk rock dystopian thriller is a must-read about freedom of expression and the power of art in the fight against tyranny.

Publishers Weekly
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All media is subject to despotic censorship, and any “anti-American thought” is banned in this 1991-set supernatural alternate history by Lariviere (Time Travel for Love and Profit). “Being dead is exactly like living in the Midwest,” remarks snarky, recently murdered 18-year-old Max Bowl. But his soul still lingers, his consciousness linked to that of his best friend Giselle “Gigi” Durant. Past events portraying Max’s life leading up to his death are depicted alongside Gigi’s experiences in the present, in which she has reunited her former cohort of Champaign, Ill., thespians to mourn both Max and the recent death by suicide of their beloved teacher, Ms. Lee. Dodging political party informers, checkpoints, and raids, the students risk their lives by channeling Ms. Lee’s rebellious attitude (“I’m doing it because they told me I can’t”) to stage an illegal “punk rock Shakespeare” version of Henry VI. While Max’s presence in Gigi’s life sometimes feels voyeuristic, as when he witnesses her first sexual encounter, tension zings throughout the twined plots, making for an unabashed profession of the importance of art in a tale both gritty and timely. Characters are intersectionally diverse. Ages 14–up. Agent: Susan Hawk, Upstart Crow Literary. (July)

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Under the authoritarian government of an alternate 1991, Anti-American Thought is illegal. Max is dead. Trapped inside the thoughts and memories of his friend Gigi, he’s not sure how to move on. Reeling from Max’s death, Gigi and Axl, the third member of their friend group in Champaign, Illinois, aren’t sure what’s left for them during their senior year. TV infomercial personality turned dictator Bud Hill controls the music Americans listen to, the art they consume, and the plays they perform. After the suspicious death of their beloved theater teacher, Ms. Lee, Gigi and the Thespians organize risky underground rehearsals for Shakespeare’s Henry VI. The script is pared down and cut with punk music, inspired by RiotRite, an illicit Defiance zine. Despite her entanglement with longtime-crush Orin, Gigi and Axl’s convincing will-they, won’t-they tension offers the romantic narrative that propels the story. The action culminates in a raucous, high-stakes public performance of Henry VI directed by Gigi. Max narrates the story posthumously, living inside Gigi’s thoughts and providing dark, cutting exposition and plenty of dry, raunchy humor. Secrets, lies, and betrayal fuel this timely commentary on censorship and the defiant power of art set against the vivid backdrop of ’80s pop-punk music, Riot Grrrl culture, and the early internet. Gigi and Max (who’s bisexual) are cued white, Axl is racially ambiguous, and Ms. Lee is Chinese American. This fast-paced dystopian thriller will get a standing ovation from theater kids and punk rockers alike. (reading list, playlist) (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.