Hello my lovely bookworms. Happy Friday! Another week, another Let’s Talk Books – a feature I cohost with Emily A Short Book Lover. A weekly series where we are highlighting particular books (Teen/YA/ Adult etc) coming out during this time, we will review, or get bookish content from authors and so much more.
This week both Emily and I are featuring a new LGBTQ+ YA thriller HIDEOUS BEAUTY by William Hussey. It was released yesterday and this is another book I can’t wait to read. I have so many but now is the best time with lockdown. When I was talking to Katarina the lovely publicist at Usborne, I assumed this was William’s first novel, but it’s not, but it is his first book with a gay character. Today he’s here to talk about why, it’s honestly fascinating. Here is a bit more about Hideous Beauty.
Hideous Beauty by William Hussey Published by Usborne Publishing on May 28, 2020
Genres: LGBTQ+, Thriller, UKYA
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When Dylan and Ellis’s secret relationship is exposed on social media, Dylan is forced to come out. To Dylan’s surprise they are met with support and congratulations, and an amazing reception at their highschool dance. Perhaps people aren’t as narrow-minded as he thought?
But Dylan’s happiness is short-lived. Ellis suddenly becomes angry, withdrawn, and as they drive home from the dance, he loses control of the car, sending it plunging into Hunter’s Lake. Barely conscious, Dylan is pulled free of the wreck, while Ellis is left to drown.
Grief-stricken, Dylan vows to discover what happened to Ellis that night and piece together the last months of his boyfriend’s life – and realises just how little he knew about the boy he loved.
Why Hideous Beauty is my first LBGTQ+ novel.
Thanks William for coming on my blog.
Hideous Beauty is my 9th published book, but it’s my first LGBTQ+ novel and my first featuring a gay main character. This might strike people as a bit odd. I am a gay writer, I’m hugely proud of this fact, so why has it taken me so long to write a book like this?
There are a few reasons, I think.
Firstly, it’s easy to forget how much the publishing industry – especially the Young Adult section – has changed in just a few short years. When I wrote my early Middle Grade/YA books, they were very much plot-driven supernatural adventures. There were throwaway romances between the straight leads, but it was very much secondary to the action. Writing at that time, the overt sexuality and gender identity of the main characters didn’t feel like they could be explored within children’s fiction. Of course, they should have been. Sexuality belongs in these books, front and centre. I guess I just went along with a prevailing atmosphere in the industry at the time that these subjects weren’t appropriate for the kind of books I was writing.
And I have to own that mistake. It was entirely my own lack of bravery and insight that stopped me writing books like Hideous Beauty back then. So what happened to change my attitude?
Well, in the mid-2000s, I had to take a long break from writing to care for my late Mum. She had been diagnosed with lung cancer and eventually passed away from complications with sepsis. For about four years, I didn’t write much of anything. I was just so overwhelmed, practically and emotionally, to devote any energy to storytelling.
But then, in that hiatus, there was this sudden and wonderful explosion in LGBTQ+ children’s literature! Fabulous, frank and spellbinding books by the likes of Bill Konigsberg and Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera. These books not only opened my eyes to what was possible – in fact, what SHOULD be written about in YA – but showed me how important their message of acceptance was to a new generation of queer children.
Devouring these novels, I had only two regrets. One, that such books hadn’t been around when I was a young teen, struggling with my identity; and secondly, that I hadn’t been brave or insightful enough at the outset of my career to write something similar.
But as my Mum always said: regret gets you nowhere. The thing to do is set about making amends. Hideous Beauty is very much my attempt to do that. To write as clearly and boldly as I can about the lives of young queer people and the challenges they still face. To say that, for acceptance to be worth anything, it must be total and on the terms of the queer person asking for it. If it is anything less than this then it still leaves LGBTQ+ kids just as vulnerable as they were in the past.
I hope that Dylan and El’s story can make up for the opportunities I missed at the beginning.
I really enjoyed this piece from William. Head over to Emily’s blog for her Let’s Talk Book’s post. Let’s chat will you read Hideous Beauty?
I can’t wait to read this. Hideous Beauty is out NOW!
