All the Truth I Can Stand [Hardcover]

A Whippoorwill Award for YA Literature Honor Book

A gay teenager in 1990s Wyoming must contend with the violent loss of a loved one in this historical YA novel that draws from the tragic murder of Matthew Shepard in 1998.

Juniper, Wyoming, high school student Ash is still reeling from his mother’s death and ostracization by his friends when his father signs him up to join the crew for a college production of Oklahoma! Ash is slowly drawn out of his shell by student reporter Jenna and the star of the show, Shane, with whom a romance slowly blooms. Shane is talented, sensitive, and magnetic, but also deeply troubled. When Shane is found brutally beaten and unconscious, Jenna and Ash are shattered. And after Shane dies, they watch his death become a rallying point for gay rights advocates, and they wonder what the full story is and if they truly knew Shane at all.

All The Truth I Can Stand is a heartbreaking exploration of grief and legacy, and details the good and the bad that can come to pass when an imperfect person is made into a symbol.2025 Kansas NEA Reading Circle List

★ Keen prose meditates on the nature of violence fueled by bigotry and its effects, making for a layered and provocative telling that will encourage readers to critically examine their own behaviors and perceptions. —Publishers Weekly, starred review

Even though the prologue signals that tragedy lies ahead, the novel doesn’t feel predictable—instead, it carries an eerie sense of dread. Ash’s closeness to Shane carefully brings Shane’s story into vivid focus without conveying a feeling that Ash is speaking for him...A tender fictionalization that sheds light on human complexity. —Kirkus Reviló¬