The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus
"Trinidad. Sixteen-year-old Audre is despondent, having just found out she’s going to be sent to live in America with her father because her strictly religious mother caught her with her secret girlfriend, the pastor’s daughter. Audre’s grandmother Queenie (a former dancer who drives a white convertible Cadillac and who has a few secrets of her own) tries to reassure her granddaughter that she won’t lose her roots, not even in some place called Minneapolis. “America have dey spirits too, believe me,” she tells Audre.
Minneapolis. Sixteen-year-old Mabel is lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to figure out why she feels the way she feels–about her ex Terrell, about her girl Jada and that moment they had in the woods, and about the vague feeling of illness that’s plagued her all summer. Mabel’s reverie is cut short when her father announces that his best friend and his just-arrived-from-Trinidad daughter are coming for dinner.
Mabel quickly falls hard for Audre and is determined to take care of her as she tries to navigate an American high school. But their romance takes a turn when test results reveal exactly why Mabel has been feeling low-key sick all summer and suddenly it’s Audre who is caring for Mabel as she faces a deeply uncertain future."
“Take your feelings and hold them with softness, but also with power. And whenever you feel afraid, know you can ask your fear about itself.”
― Junauda Petrus, The Stars and the Blackness Between Them
First, this book is very sad but it also has subtle magic and such sweetness in it too. If anyone pays attention to my ratings, I give very few books 5/5. I generally find something I enjoy in most books I read, so I reserve 5/5 for the ones that hit me in the gut and which I know are going to stay with me for a long time. I strongly recommend paying attention to the content warnings on this one, but if you're able, this book is a gorgeous read.
This books deals with sickness and dying, but if you’re able, I still highly recommend reading this book. It is so beautifully written! The MCs are wonderfully formed characters of their own. And I cried multiple times throughout this book. This book taught me about how to give thanks for your feet, your body, your life. The friends who are there through the hard stuff. And to take the time for gratitude.
Genre: ya, contemporary, lgbtqia+
Representation: lesbian/queer
Content Warnings: Homophobia (religious/internalized), Incarceration, Physical abuse, Terminal illness