The Evolving Truth of Ever-Stronger Will [Hardcover]

Will, an agender teen, struggles with the haunting aftermath of parental abuse as they forge a new life and love in this novel that is perfect for fans of If These Wings Could Fly and Last Night at the Telegraph Club.

Will is a 17-year-old on the cusp of freedom: freedom from providing and caring for their abusive, addicted mother, freedom from their small town with an even smaller mindset, and the freedom from having to hide who they truly are. When their drug dealer mother dies months before their 18th birthday, Will is granted their freedom earlier than expected. But their mother’s last words haunt Will: She cursed them with her dying breath, claiming her death was their fault. Soon their mother’s drug-dealing past threatens Will’s new shiny future, leaving Will scrambling to find their beloved former foster mother Raz before Child Protective Services or local drug dealers find them first. But how do you reconnect with family and embark on a new love when you’re convinced you destroy everything you touch?2024 Kansas NEA Reading Circle List

A bittersweet portrait of an agender teen finding true family following parental abuse...MacGregor sensitively renders Will’s harrowing circumstances, culminating in an emotionally satisfying resolution. —Publishers Weekly

MacGregor’s second YA novel makes an artistic leap to second-person narration that gives Will distance from the many sources of pain and trauma in their life, and the author’s experiences being queer and autistic give Will and Julian deeper nuance. —Booklist

In Maya MacGregor’s empowering novel The Evolving Truth of Ever-Stronger Will, an agender teenager learns tl³‘