We are thrilled to announce Shoshana von Blanckensee’s GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS, a queer Jewish coming-of-age story, set in 1990s San Francisco, about a young woman who finds herself torn between her fraught relationships with her childhood best friend and first love, and with an older lesbian for whom she serves as an escort has been acquired by Tarini Sipahimalani at Putnam, in a pre-empt, for publication in Summer 2025 for World excl. Canada! Rights also to Sarah Jackson at Random House Canada (Canada).
Hannah is in love with her best friend, and Bella mostly loves her too. Hannah also has a very deep and special relationship with Bubbe, her quirky, tell-it-like-it-is grandmother. When graduation comes, Hannah decides to join Bella on a roadtrip across the nation after a tearful goodbye with Bubbe to seek the fabled queer paradise, San Francisco, a city that could only be described as a dream to the two green-eared teens, but making it in the city is harder than it seems. Unable to land jobs with their limited experience and yet still determined, the girls become strippers. It’s only once Hannah gets a regular patron, named Chris, that she can see a way out – paid sex with the older lesbian means she can quit giving awkward lap dances to men. Bella encourages her because it’s good money and, besides, they’re trying to stay in paradise, aren’t they? San Francisco begins to swallow them whole. Hannah is confused by her developing feelings; Bella begins to casually see other women; and Chris takes her deeper into the world of alcohol and drugs. Home takes up more and more space in Hannah’s mind. She misses Six, the third friend in her and Bella’s high school trio, and Bubbe. But when Bubbe finally comes out to visit her, Hannah learns something devastating about her grandmother that forever changes her life. Throughout the gripping journey, Hannah discovers that in order to love, she has to love and trust herself first.
Shoshana von Blanckensee, is a veteran of the original Sister Spit Ramblin’ Roadshow. She has participated in the San Francisco LitCrawl and received the William Dickey Fellowship in poetry from San Francisco State University. Her work has appeared in MUTHA Magazine and the anthologies Working Sex and Baby Remember My Name. Shoshana is an oncology nurse by day and a writer by any available moment. She lives in Berkeley, California, with her partner, kids, and a couple of adorable rescue dogs.
Deal arranged by Amanda Orozco and Alexandra D’Amico
Congratulations Shoshana!