Detransition, Baby

Katrina sits in the roller chair before Ames s desk. The moment has an air of uncommon inversion. Because she is his boss, Ames nearly always goes to her office and sits in front of her desk. Her office, corresponding to their relative places in the corporate hierarchy, is double the square footage of his, with two full windows looking out on two neighboring buildings, and between them, a sliver of East River view. By contrast, Ames s office has one window overlooking a small parking lot. Once, in the twilight, he saw a brown creature trotting spritely across the pavement and has since maintained that it was an urban coyote. One takes one s excitements where one may. 

Katrina rifles through a briefcase, pulls out a manila folder, and plops it on his desk. Her coming to his office makes him tense, like a teenager whose parents have entered his room. 

Well, she says. It s real. This is happening. He reaches for the folder. He has good posture, and gives her an easy smile. The folder opens to reveal printouts from an online patient portal. 

My gyno, Katrina says, watching him closely. She followed up with a blood test and a pelvic exam. She confirmed the home test results. Without an ultrasound, she can t say how far I am, so I had one scheduled for the Thursday after next. I mean, I know you maybe aren t sure yet how you feel about it, but maybe if you come, that ll help? If I m more than four weeks into it, we ll be able to see the baby or I guess, embryo?

He is aware that she is scrutinizing him for a reaction. He had been unable to give one after the pregnancy test came back positive. He feels the same numbness that he felt then, only now, he can no longer delay by telling her that he wants to wait for official confirmation to get his emotions involved. Amazing, he says, and tries out a smile that he fears might be coming off as a grimace. I guess it s real! Especially since we have he searches briefly for a phrase, and then comes

Torrey Peters is the author of the novellas Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones and The Masker, which are available for free on her website. She holds an MFA from the University of Iowa and an MA in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth. She grew up in Chicago and now lives in Brooklyn.

I loved seeing [Detransition, Baby] on other people s lists because, you know, Torrey Peters, she went there. It was just irreverent, [referencing] so many things that queer people don t necessarily want to talk about. And she made a story out of it instead of sitting and making the discomfort the only story. Roxane Gay, The New York Times

Detransition, Baby is so good I want to scream. Carmen Maria Machado

This book is exhilaratingly good. Jia Tolentino

An unforgettable portrait of three women, trans and cis, who wrestle with questions of motherhood and family making . . . Detransition, Baby might destroy your book club, but in a good way. Andrea Lawlor, author of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

A tale of love, loss, and self-discovery as singular as it is universal, and all the sweeter for it. Entertainment Weekly

It s the smartest novel I ve read in ages. I wish I could figure out how it manages to be utterly savage & lacerating while also conveying endlessly expanding compassion. It s kind of a miracle. Garth Greenwell

If I had the ability to momentarily wipe my memory, I d use it to reread Detransition, Baby for the first time. Vogue

Even the most complimentary adjectives feel insufficient to describe Torrey Peters first novel. Bookpage (starred review)

This emotionally devastating, culturally specific, endlessly intelligent novel is . . . really, really funny. Austostraddle

A fiercely confident novel. O: The Oprah Magazine

With heart and savvy, [Detransition, Baby upends] our traditional, gendered notions of what parenthood can look like. The New York Times Book Review

[Peters] confronts the unruliness of our desires, and our vitality as we struggle within their limits. The New Yorker

[An] electrifying debut . . .  a deeply searching novel that resists easy answers. Esquire

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