Take Me With You [Paperback]

Kindred Powell's youth is marked by a secret that her white mother and Black father kept from her. After her father Carl's unjust incarceration and her mother's death from illness, Kindred moves from Los Angeles to New York in a desperate search for peace. There, she finds her girlfriend Nautica, a career in sex work, and a kinky boy toy named Griffin. But when Carl goes missing from LA's Skid Row, Kindred must drop everything to find him.“Carlisle’s novel brings us confidently into Kindred’s life, beautifully illuminating her relationships with family, sex work, issues of class, and love. A debut of deep compassion and clear-eyed vision.” —Aimee Bender, author ofThe Butterfly LampshadeandThe Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
 “Take Me With Youis a rallying cry, a command for those of us who call ourselves American to remember who we are and who we are supposed to be. Through characters that show us the fierce and expansive meaning of family, Vanessa Carlisle illuminates the myriad lives of interconnected people informed but never broken by the injustices of their race, gender, sexuality or class status. Kindred, the character who is the driving force in this immersive and provocative novel, is the daughter and sister of all the people who have raised her: her incarcerated father, lovers and friends in the sex work industry, and the social activists who empower and educate her. This is a book to read and share. Deft and powerful from beginning to end.” —Dana Johnson, author ofIn the Not Quite DarkandElsewhere, California