''Forgive Me If I've Told You This Before'' is a

young adult A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

coming of age story written by Karelia Stetz-Waters. The book is set in a 1992 rural Oregon town during the middle of the campaign against homosexual equal rights known as the 1992 Oregon Ballot Measure 9. The book was first published on October 9, 2014, by Ooligan Press. Parts of the book are based on an unpublished memoir by Stetz-Waters.

Book synopsis

The book features Triinu Hoffman, a shy and intellectual teen who lives in 1992 rural Oregon. She has troubles fitting in and does her best to hide her true self, all in an attempt to hide from the bullying behavior of classmates. The school principal is no help against her poor treatment because he tends to treat her just as badly as the bullies. Triinu experiences new feelings of attraction towards other women, she finds her first love and establishes her teenage independence. She struggles with her differences during a time where Oregon is voting on the discrimination rights in the 1992 Ballot Measure 9. She comes to realize that these differences will make her a target during this fight for equal rights, but she also realizes that if she accepts her differences, she will finally be set free. Triinu learns to stand for what she believes in, she learns how to love, and she learns what it means to have her heart broken.

Awards and critical reception

''Forgive Me If I've Told You This Before'' was one of the top ten books on the

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table The Rainbow Round Table (RRT) of the American Library Association (ALA) is dedicated to supporting the information needs of LGBTQIA+ people, from professional library workers to the population at large. Founded in 1970, it is the nation's first ga ...

's 2016 Rainbow Book List.

Lambda Literary The Lambda Literary Foundation (also known as Lambda Literary) is an American LGBT literature, LGBTQ literary organization whose mission is to nurture and advocate for LGBTQ writers, elevating the impact of their words to create community, prese ...

called the book "an ambitious mix of politics, first loves, lost friends, family, grief, cultural heritage, and identity". The book also received positive reviews in ''

Curve In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line (geometry), line, but that does not have to be Linearity, straight. Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point (ge ...

'' magazine and ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with ...

''. It is also available as a Kindle book.Kindle
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References

{{Reflist LGBT-related young adult novels Novels set in Oregon 2014 LGBT-related literary works