On Borrowed Wings: A Novel

Adele Pietra has heard her mother say that her destiny is carved in the same brilliantly hued granite her father and brother cleave from the Stony Creek mine - she is to marry a quarryman. But when Adele's brother, Charles, dies unexpectedly, Adele sees the chance to change her life. Enrolling at Yale as Charles, Adele assumes his identity - and gender - as a way to leave behind her mother's expectations and the limitations of her small town. Hair chopped and chest bound, Adele falls in naturally with a lively crew of undergraduate boys: the Jewish Harry Persky with his slick Manhattan know-how, the quiet and mysterious legacy student Phineas, and the lanky but charismatic Wick. Through her work with a eugenics professor and her friendship with a local Italian family, Adele confronts her class and ethnicity as never before, all the while fearing that both her crush on Wick and her mother's well-meaning interventions will put an end to her delicate masquerade. Part social history, part coming-of-age story, On Borrowed Wings pairs a perennially intriguing theme with a perfectly rendered setting to create an unforgettable and auspicious debut novel.