On Borrowed Wings by Chandra Prasad
Adele Pietra has heard her mother say that her destiny is carved in the same brilliantly hued granite her father and brother cleave from the Stony Creek mine - she is to marry a quarryman. But when Adele's brother, Charles, dies unexpectedly, Adele sees the chance to change her life. Enrolling at Yale as Charles, Adele assumes his identity - and gender - as a way to leave behind her mother's expectations and the limitations of her small town. Hair chopped and chest bound, Adele falls in naturally with a lively crew of undergraduate boys: the Jewish Harry Persky with his slick Manhattan know-how, the quiet and mysterious legacy student Phineas, and the lanky but charismatic Wick. Through her work with a eugenics professor and her friendship with a local Italian family, Adele confronts her class and ethnicity as never before, all the while fearing that both her crush on Wick and her mother's well-meaning interventions will put an end to her delicate masquerade. Part social history, part coming-of-age story, On Borrowed Wings pairs a perennially intriguing theme with a perfectly rendered setting to create an unforgettable and auspicious debut novel.