Woodworking

＂Big-hearted and hilarious, an ode to authenticity and a must-read in our current times.＂ --Shelby Van Pelt, New York Times bestselling author of Remarkably Bright Creatures

One of Them’s 10 Most Anticipated Books of 2025 - One of Book Riot’s and The Mary Sue’s 15 Most Anticipated Queer Books of 2025 - One of The Millions’, Kirkus’s, The AV Club’s, and LGBTQ Reads’s Most Anticipated Books of 2025 - One of BookBrowse’s Most Anticipated Reads of March 2025

An unforgettable and heartwarming book-club debut following a trans high school teacher from a small town in South Dakota who befriends the only other trans woman she knows: one of her students.

Erica Skyberg is thirty-five years old, recently divorced--and trans. Not that she’s told anyone yet. Mitchell, South Dakota, isn’t exactly bursting with other trans women. Instead, she keeps to herself, teaching by day and directing community theater by night. That is, until Abigail Hawkes enters her orbit.

Abigail is seventeen, Mitchell High’s resident political dissident and Only Trans Girl. It’s a role she plays faultlessly, albeit a little reluctantly. She’s also annoyed by the idea of spending her senior year secretly guiding her English teacher through her transition. But Abigail remembers the uncertainty--and loneliness--that comes with it. Besides, Erica isn’t the only one struggling to shed the weight of others’ expectations.

As their unlikely friendship evolves, it comes under the scrutiny of their community. And soon, both women--and those closest to them--are forced to ask: Who are we if we choose to hide ourselves? What happens once we disappear into the woodwork?

Detransition Baby meets Fleishman is in Trouble in this remarkable debut novel from an incisive contemporary voice. A story about the awkwardness of growing up and the greatest love story of all, that between us and our friends, Woodworking is a tonic for the moment and a celebration of womanhood in all its multifaceted joy.

Emily St. James grew up in the world of this book, and has attended many, many basketball games in the aforementioned Corn Palace. Though she remembers what it’s like to be a trans woman trying desperately not to be seen in the wilds of red-state America, she now works and lives in Los Angeles with her family. Her non-fiction pop-culture writing for Vox and Abrams has earned her an Online Journalism Award, a Hugo, and a Twitter following of well-wishers some 85K strong.