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Breaking Free: Fifteen-year-old Author, Winter Page, Shows LGBTQ Teens That They’re Not Alone
June 2013
Review By Elise Patterson
When Raimi starts her junior year at a new high school, she’s excited for new opportunities and a new beginning. Here, no one knows her past. No one knows that she was born in the body of a boy. At first, her new school seems to be exactly what she wants and needs. She makes friends, does well in her classes, and stays out of the limelight. That is, until she meets Claire.
Claire is stunningly beautiful, head cheerleader, and generally loved by all. But she’s harboring a secret—she’s gay and trapped in a relationship with an abusive boyfriend, Brad, who threatens to out her if she leaves him. When Claire’s secret is revealed to her classmates, and subsequently their teachers and parents, she and Raimi begin a relationship—but faced with Claire’s bullies and memories of previous ridicule at her old school, Raimi isn’t yet ready to reveal to her friends that she’s gay. She must choose between hiding her true self and remaining safe, or standing up for herself and the girl she loves—and risking the cruelty of her peers and the wrath of one vicious bully.
Debut novel from fifteen-year-old author, Winter Page, Breaking Free paints a troubling, yet empowering picture of the life of an LGBTQ teen. Inspired by a transgender friend who feared coming out to his peers, Page set out to support teens that shared the same sense of dread. "I’m tired of seeing headlines of kids killing themselves because they’re afraid to be who they are, or because their parents attack them, or they’re bullied into suicide. The big message in my book is that love is love. You should surround yourself with people who won’t degrade, judge or hurt you for being who you are."
When Raimi starts her junior year at a new high school, she’s excited for new opportunities and a new beginning. Here, no one knows her past. No one knows that she was born in the body of a boy. At first, her new school seems to be exactly what she wants and needs. She makes friends, does well in her classes, and stays out of the limelight. That is, until she meets Claire.
Claire is stunningly beautiful, head cheerleader, and generally loved by all. But she’s harboring a secret—she’s gay and trapped in a relationship with an abusive boyfriend, Brad, who threatens to out her if she leaves him. When Claire’s secret is revealed to her classmates, and subsequently their teachers and parents, she and Raimi begin a relationship—but faced with Claire’s bullies and memories of previous ridicule at her old school, Raimi isn’t yet ready to reveal to her friends that she’s gay. She must choose between hiding her true self and remaining safe, or standing up for herself and the girl she loves—and risking the cruelty of her peers and the wrath of one vicious bully.
Debut novel from fifteen-year-old author, Winter Page, Breaking Free paints a troubling, yet empowering picture of the life of an LGBTQ teen. Inspired by a transgender friend who feared coming out to his peers, Page set out to support teens that shared the same sense of dread. "I’m tired of seeing headlines of kids killing themselves because they’re afraid to be who they are, or because their parents attack them, or they’re bullied into suicide. The big message in my book is that love is love. You should surround yourself with people who won’t degrade, judge or hurt you for being who you are."
Page’s novel is a short but inspiring read. This YA novel is sure to appeal to anyone who’s ever experienced what Claire and Raimi have—and may be an eye opener for anyone who hasn’t. While Page’s high school setting is often more reminiscent of a television drama than an actual high school, the bullying that Claire and Raimi face is all too real. Particularly troublingly realistic is the depiction of the parents of Claire’s fellow cheerleaders—when Claire is forcibly outed by Brad, many parents call the school demanding she be removed from the team, afraid that she poses some risk to their daughters. And when Raimi’s secret is finally revealed, she is the victim of a physical beating that leaves her concussed, a story that many trans people are all too familiar with.
In spite of its tendency toward the dramatic, Breaking Free offers an important commentary on the state of bullying for LGBTQ teens. Raimi is a suicide survivor and proof positive that it gets better. Though soon faced again with those demons, she leads Claire through a similar trial, and together, the two girls find the acceptance in each other that they so desperately crave, and learn that the cruelty of their peers doesn’t have to hold them captive.
Breaking Free, by Winter Page, Harmony Ink, 166 pages, 14.99$
Breaking Free is available for purchase from www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, and www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
Connect with Winter Page on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
In spite of its tendency toward the dramatic, Breaking Free offers an important commentary on the state of bullying for LGBTQ teens. Raimi is a suicide survivor and proof positive that it gets better. Though soon faced again with those demons, she leads Claire through a similar trial, and together, the two girls find the acceptance in each other that they so desperately crave, and learn that the cruelty of their peers doesn’t have to hold them captive.
Breaking Free, by Winter Page, Harmony Ink, 166 pages, 14.99$
Breaking Free is available for purchase from www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, and www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
Connect with Winter Page on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
