Join us for a reading with Natalie Naudus, who will read from her new YA novel, Gay the Pray Away. A conversation with author Alix E. Harrow will follow. This in-person event will be free and open to the public. We recommend arriving early for the best seating.
About the Book: Valerie Danners is in a cult. She just doesn’t know it yet. When she finds a queer book at the library and smuggles it home, her conservative Christian homeschooling world begins to crack. And when the cutest girl she’s ever met shows up to Bible class, she starts to question everything.
Riley is so confident and kind, and she and Valerie bond quickly over existing as multiracial teens in a very white Christian community. As Valerie explores her feelings for Riley, she begins to see that the world she knows is a carefully crafted narrative.
Publicly, the girls are close friends—holding hands in prayer, rooming together at a conference. Privately, they grasp at any chance to continue their forbidden romance—until they are found out. Now Valerie must choose between staying with a family she fears will never accept her, or running away with the girl she loves.
About the Author: “A fave among audiobook listeners” (Buzzfeed), Natalie Naudus is one of the most beloved audiobook narrators working today. She has won an Audie award and nine Earphones awards, and maintains a robust social media following. She lives with her family on a mountain in Virginia. Gay the Pray Away is her debut novel.
About the Moderator: Alix E. Harrow is the New York Times–bestselling and Hugo Award–winning author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January, The Once and Future Witches, Starling House, and various short fiction. A former adjunct and Kentuckian, Harrow now lives in Virginia with her husband and their two semi-feral kids.
Gay the Pray Away will be released on June 4. To order the book, please see below for the New Dominion Bookshop book order form or call the shop at 434-295-2552.
"I devoured this book. A moving journey of discovery, first love and resilience, with a timely and urgent message. Many people need this story and don’t know it yet; I hope they find it somehow."
—Jessica Mary Best
New Dominion Bookshop Book Order Form
Shop local and support your community bookstore! Order books from New Dominion Bookshop by filling out the contact form below. Please make sure that you list the book title(s) that you would like to order. We will give you a call when your order is ready. If you are placing a pre-order for a book that has not yet been released, your book will be ready on or soon after the book’s release date. There is no need to pre-pay. We will collect your payment when you pick up your order or when your order is shipped. If you would like your book(s) to be signed and/or inscribed, please include that information in the “Message for Our Booksellers” field.
Alix E. Harrow Photo Credit: Elora Overbey