A Million Quiet Revolutions

by Robin Gow, Published by Square Fish, Farrar Straus Giroux, 2022

For as long as they can remember, high school seniors Aaron and Oliver have only ever had each other.  In small rural Kutztown, Pennsylvania there isn’t much of a queer community.  They have been best friends since kindergarten, and have shared many milestones, like coming out as trans together, searching on-line for the right binders – and ultimately now they are falling in love, with each other.

They are from very different backgrounds.  Oliver is the only child of loving and accepting Jewish parents.  Aaron is Puerto Rican.  Aaron has an older brother named José, and his family is devotedly Catholic, attending mass every Sunday.  Aaron’s parents have never been as accepting as Oliver’s and as the story begins there is an added problem.  Aaron’s parents have decided their family must move immediately, from Kutztown to Queens, New York to stay with relatives, because of a sexual abuse scandal by the local Catholic Church’s priests, and because José is the first to come forward to the police.  Aaron and Oliver barely have time to say goodbye.  They decide to stay in touch by primarily writing letters back and forth to each other, like people did in the old days before computers and technology.

What follows is a beautiful novel, written in-verse style poetry, where the reader learns about both Aaron and Oliver as they share their thoughts, hopes, and fears primarily through their letters, over the next six months. The reader sees them grow apart and adapt to life without each other.  Examples:  Aaron is enveloped into a larger and more accepting LGBTQ+ community at his new school in New York City.   Oliver starts therapy and thinks about transitioning.  Both boys reflect on what comes next, their futures after high school.  The two friends also come together and bond through their letters, and through a shared interest in queer history.

Aaron and Oliver originally decide to drop their dead names, and pick new names, after learning a local history story about Revolutionary war soldiers.  Here is the story, of how they became Aaron and Oliver.  This is Oliver writing:

Queer Revolutionary Love Story: A Thread

One story was about how female soldiers who fought in the
Revolution
would find each other.  The guide said
they would share tricks for how to pass as men – as soldiers.
They would help and take care of each other.
The tour guide said some of them even took women lovers.
She didn’t say anything about trans people
probably because I imagine society
didn’t really know what trans people were
or even have any idea that was possible.
These two who lived in my town
were supposedly named Aaron and Oliver.
They helped each other forge documents
and performed so well in the army that no one
would dare question their “manliness” or whatever.
When they returned from the war
they told people they were brothers, and they lived together
In Royersford, Pennsylvania.

The tour guide said people only figured out
they were assigned female at birth
after they died (because of the autopsy or whatever),
I can’t find anything about it online
but idk it sounds possible
to me.

In their letters back-and-forth to each other, Aaron and Oliver often pretend that they are indeed those two Revolutionary soldiers back in the eighteenth century, writing lovingly to each other, but separated by distance, and longing to be together again.  The final section of the book, titled Battlefield, is about Aaron and Oliver reuniting at the end of senior year and attending a 1778 Battle of Monmouth Revolutionary War reenactment weekend in New Jersey, where they dress in Revolutionary war uniforms, sleep in a tent, and pretend to be assigned female at birth Revolutionary soldiers, just like Aaron and Oliver, their namesakes.  Their parents think they are on a beach trip to the New Jersey shore with a large group of friends, not just the two of them at a Revolutionary war reenactment sleeping in a tent together.  When Oliver’s Mom learns the truth, she is not pleased, and she insists that Aaron’s parents need to know the truth too.  This leads to an interesting and satisfying conclusion to this novel.

Another poetic verse that I want to share relates to the title of the novel, A Million Quiet Revolutions.

1.4 Million Quiet Revolutions

I write, Dear Aaron,

 A few nights ago
You said “I don’t know what I would
do without them.”

I wanted to tell you that a few days ago
I decided to figure out how many people
in the United States are trans
and most estimates say
about 1.4 million people.

Do you know how many people
fought in the Revolutionary War?

 Not even a million!

I’ve been thinking that I don’t
really know what the word revolution
is supposed to mean.

What revolution did that war actually bring?

Revolution is supposed to mean
rebellion, revolt, change, mutiny,
and transformation. 

What is more revolutionary
than all those trans people’s
wonderful
brilliant
vibrant
unique

 lives? 

We’re linked to them
even if we only know a few trans people 
in real life. 

Even if we have to carve out
our history.

Even if people say we’re silly years later
for running away
together for a weekend to
make real these soldiers
we dreamed of.

– Oliver

At the back of the book, author Robin Gow provides a list of resources and books by queer and trans historians, writers, and artists.  He writes, “Personally, my philosophy behind this book is that it is not a question of whether trans and queer people have existed throughout history.  It is a question of who is telling their stories, if their stories are being told at all.”

Robin Gow (they/them) grew up in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, the same town where Oliver and Aaron’s story begins.  They write, “There is a lot of beauty there, but also a lot of isolation for a queer person.  In fifth grade, I remember learning about female soldiers dressing as men to be part of the Revolution.  I was fascinated by this idea even then, and at recess sometimes when we played “war” I would pretend to be one of those soldiers.  I think back then I was so drawn to this knowledge because it was evidence that gender was not fixed; it showed that people had been crafting their own genders for centuries.  There have always been people who resist the constraints of gender norms and assigned genders.”  Robin Gow works at Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center, building celebratory spaces for local LGBTQIA+ folks.  They currently live in Allentown, Pennsylvania, with their partner; best friend; and pugs, Gertrude and Eddie.  They are an out and proud autistic bisexual genderqueer man passionate about LGBTQIA+ issues.  Learn more at robingow.com.

This book review was submitted by Stand with Trans
advocate Barb Shumer, who is a past board member and
retired public librarian.