Juliet Takes a Breath

Nov 9, 2025 9:37 AM

Author:Gabby Rivera

Hi, my name is Juliet Palante. I've been reading your book Raging Flower: Empowering Your Pussy by Empowering Your Mind. No lie, I started reading it so that I could make people uncomfortable on the subway.

But I'm writing to you now because this book of yours, this magical labia manifesto, has become my bible.

Juliet's head is spinning with questions.

Will her beautiful, chaotic Puerto Rican family still love her when they find out she's gay?

Will an internship with her favourite author help her understand what kind of feminist she wants to be?

And why won't her girlfriend return her calls?!

In a summer full of queer dance parties, a fling with a motorcycling librarian and intense explorations of sexuality and identity, Juliet's about to learn what it means to really come out - to the world, to her family, to herself.

Reviews

Dazzling, funny as hell, poignant, all the things.

—— Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body

Juliet Takes a Breath is absolutely breathtaking. This is the homegirl I've always wanted to see in literature, made flesh by Rivera's pen.

—— Elizabeth Acevedo, Carnegie Award winning author of The Poet X

Rivera captures both the disappointments and the possibilities that come with realising that your life's solution cannot be figured out by someone else.

—— The New York Times Book Review

Reflects early adult life . . . in all its messy, confusing splendor.

—— Publishers Weekly, starred review

A whirlwind coming-of-age story that leaves one breathless.

—— Kirkus Reviews

The satire is impeccably managed. Cleverly rendered, yet imprecise parallels ensure there is sufficient distance for the humour to be effective… it is comic relief in the darkest sense.

—— Cora MacGregor , Cherwell Newspaper

Like McEwan's other work, The Cockroach is a beautifully written novella and an in-depth critique of Britain's current political situation… I found this an exciting and inventive retelling of Kafka's classic tale, and a clever commentary on not just Brexit, but modern British politics as a whole.

—— Meg Horridge , SCAN

An extraordinary book which can truly be said to break new ground

—— New Yorker

The outstanding Japanese novelist of the century...The Makioka Sisters is his greatest book

—— Edmund White, , New York Times Book Review

Sensitive, thoughtful and rich with the spoils of its author's plunder of the past

—— Irish Independent

This is a tremendous book: affecting, intelligent, ironic, humane and utterly convincing. It is also extremely funny

—— Spectator

A brilliant read

—— Dermot O'Leary , Waitrose Weekend

A rich, imaginative, vividly characterised rite-of-passage tale

—— Nicolette Jones, The Sunday Times

High-octane adventure accompanies ingenious plotting

—— The Times

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