Right Beside You

by Tucker Shaw

Overview

"Deeply moving and thoroughly engrossing." —Kirkus, starred review

In this fresh, speculative blend of queer romance and coming-of-age, Eddie meets Theo in present-day New York and Francis in a New York of the past... torn between eras and his heart, he must make a decision that will change his life forever.

High school has just ended and Eddie is at a loss for what's next. He had a falling out with his best friend, and he never really related to the rest of his peers in the sleepy Colorado town he calls home. The future is bleak.

Until his ancient and eccentric great aunt Cookie asks him to care for her in New York City as she recuperates from an illness. Eddie leaps at the opportunity. Soon after he arrives at her tiny Greenwich Village apartment, homebound Cookie asks Eddie to use her vintage polaroid camera to snap pictures of her favorite places she can no longer visit. But something's unusual about this camera. When he takes a photo, he's launched back in time to an entirely different New York of the early 20th century.

As Eddie explores the underground queer life of the 1930s, he discovers new undercurrents of his own identity. Not to mention a dangerously handsome boy in scuffed boots and tattered stovepipe trousers who keeps popping up in his visions of the past.

But when Eddie begins to develop a crush on the mercurial Francis, a cute baker named Theo enters the picture—and he's in the present. Caught between timelines and feelings, Eddie must make a decision about what he's willing to chase: his romantic fantasies of the past or a reality that might just be what he's wanted all along.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250327109
Publisher:	Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication date:	04/29/2025
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Tucker Shaw is a writer and editor who first found his family in New York City's East Village in 1991 when he was twenty-three. Over the decades he's worked in magazines, newspapers, and advertising. When You Call My Name is his first novel for Henry Holt Books for Young Readers.

Editorial Reviews

"Shaw’s splendid novel offers long thoughts about time and the nature of reality as it tells a compelling love story that is beautifully written in the omniscient narrator’s voice, which is used to speak directly to Eddie ("Don’t fall in, Eddie. Don’t panic"). Don’t miss this lovely book." —Booklist, starred review

"A precious celebration of queer joy, resistance, and community; a deserved first selection for any well-rounded collection." —School Library Journal, starred review

Praise for When You Call My Name

A CBC Young Adult, Teacher & Librarian Favorites 9th - 12th Grade Selection

A Rainbow Book List Top Ten Title for Teen Readers

A School Library Journal Best Books of 2022 Selection

A Buzzfeed New LGBTQA+ YA Novels You Need This Spring Selection

"Poignant and uplifting . . . The novel explores the tenacity and strength of queer friendship during the toughest of times, while paying homage to a city that faced significant loss." —GAY TIMES

"This is a brilliant affirmation of the power of love on so many levels, with a wide range of appeal." —Booklist, Starred Review

"This book is historical fiction. . .but the frank, personable writing style circumvents many of the challenges the genre often has in generating teen appeal. . . an invaluable addition to a genre that has largely excluded this piece of history." —School Library Journal, starred review

"In 1990 Manhattan the paths of two young men intertwine. . .but the story is not just about their connection; it’s about the history of New York and the people who fought and coped, loved and lost, died and survived during the years when an HIV diagnosis was a death sentence. The novel is a love letter to this time and place and to the people of Manhattan. It masterfully pulls at the heartstrings. . .a touching and beautiful story." —Kirkus Reviews

"Copious period-specific pop culture references pepper the novel, whose assured pacing and intimate tone balances elements of promise, possibility, and reality. In Adam and Ben, Shaw effectively captures the era’s feeling of pain, uncertainty, and liberation for the gay community." —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

★ 03/28/2025

Gr 9 Up—There has always been something magical about New York City to Eddie, and when his great aunt Cookie requests his live-in assistance after a hospital stay, he agrees without reservation. Once Eddie arrives, the eccentric Cookie begins asking him to run errands with one unusual component: he is to use an old-fashioned camera to capture the personality of the location of each errand. Acquiescing to the housebound Cookie's request, Eddie soon finds the camera plunging him into the history of New York City—and an exploration of his own queer identity. Above all else, Shaw has crafted a love letter to queer New York in episodic vignettes presented almost in slideshow form; Eddie's forays into the past bring to light snippets of queer history that have largely been buried in the tragedy of the AIDS epidemic. The writing itself is dreamlike and creates the picture of a New York that exists in a uniquely liminal space where it only makes sense for a camera to drop Eddie seemingly randomly into everyday moments in history. While this is not for the impatient reader, as the plot unfolds slowly and without notable twists, the book is ultimately rewarding. VERDICT A precious celebration of queer joy, resistance, and community; a deserved first selection for any well-rounded collection.—Austin Ferraro

School Library Journal

★ 2025-01-18
A queer teenager toggles between eras in this time-fluid love story.

Eighteen-year-old Eddie is new to New York City. He’s there tending to Cookie, his 99-year-old great-aunt who lives in Greenwich Village. Her home is an homage to the past: Photos from her youth adorn the walls, as well as portraits of glamorous movie stars, like Bette Davis and Tallulah Bankhead. Eddie’s responsibilities include taking photos with Cookie’s vintage Polaroid camera of her favorite haunts, picking up opera cakes and alstroemerias, and having a glass of sherry with Cookie at precisely 4:00 p.m. All of this is manageable. What’s not manageable is Eddie’s anxiety. As he explores the city, he meets Theo, the bakery apprentice who makes said opera cakes. But Eddie is unable to move forward with his feelings of attraction. He also meets Francis, a boy from the 1920s. As Eddie slips between then and now, he’s able to fully be himself with Francis; their love story is sweet, hot, and revelatory. But is it real? Is Eddie’s seeming ability to travel through time actually something else? This story is a love letter to New York, an exploration of identity, and the passing down of a legacy of queer stories from one generation to another. Eddie’s visions are left open for readers’ interpretation, but his search for where he belongs is very clear, resplendent in how vividly Shaw conveys it. Most characters are cued white.

Deeply moving and thoroughly engrossing.(Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews