The dear one
Twelve-year-old Feni has to adjust when the pregnant young daughter of an old friend of her mother's comes to stay with them. A pregnant African American teenager lives with the family of her mother's friend until the baby is born in this exploration of issues of women's sexuality. Annotation. Twelve-year-old Feni doesn't see why her mother, who is already way too busy with her job, offers to take in her old college friend's fifteen-year-old daughter. Sure enough, sparks fly when Rebecca, a street-smart girl from Harlem, comes to spend the last months of her pregnancy in Feni's suburban home. As the weeks pass, tension grows in the household. Can Feni, her mother, Rebecca, and their friends draw together in time to help Rebecca decide what is best for herself, and for her baby?
Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of LGBTQ+, Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.
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What the reading experience may hold
A fuller profile for choosing with more confidence—not just another copy of the preview.
LGBTQ+ · Fiction
Use these as starting points rather than limits; the most memorable books often stretch beyond their catalog labels.
Catalog signals suggest sexual material. These notes may not be complete; consult a publisher or reader-supplied guide when detailed warnings matter.
These notes are inferred from available catalog information and may not be complete. Check a publisher or reader-supplied guide if you need comprehensive warnings.
Balanced tone · Steady pace
Works well for a focused weekend or a few concentrated sittings.
A good fit if…
Readers who want a thoughtful experience and enjoy noticing the connections beneath a book’s surface story.
This book's DNA
A visual estimate based on this edition's categories, description, and length. Select a star to explore the signals.
This signal is descriptive, not a rating. It helps compare the kind of reading experience this edition may offer.
Spoiler-Free Emotional Arc
A broad estimate of the book’s emotional rhythm, shown without story events or outcomes.
This visualization is an interpretive estimate based on catalog description, categories, tone, pace, and content signals. It does not describe specific scenes.
A quick reading snapshot
Edition facts and catalog signals to help you decide whether this book fits what you want to read next.
- ISBN-13
- 978-0-4402-1420-5
- Language
- English
- Edition record
- OL24965942M
A more thoughtful way into this book
This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.
Works well for a focused weekend or a few concentrated sittings.
Begin with its place in LGBTQ+, then notice where the book resists that label.
Read for connection, not completion.
Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.
Three questions to carry with you
- What does the central character want, and what do they misunderstand about that desire?
- Which detail or relationship changes how you interpret the story?
- What feeling or question does the book leave with you after the plot moves on?
Editorial framework by Wesley Bryan, BookenDeX Founder and Editor.
More LGBTQ+ books
These matches combine shared categories with author, publication-era, and reading-length signals.
Querelle of Brest
by Jean Genet
Why it fits: shares Fiction and LGBTQ+, a similar publication era.
Dark Reflections
by Samuel R. Delany
Why it fits: shares Fiction and LGBTQ+, a similar reading length.
Lighthousekeeping
by Jeanette Winterson
Why it fits: shares Fiction and LGBTQ+, a similar reading length.
The Good-Hearted Gardeners
by Suniti Namjoshi
Why it fits: shares LGBTQ+ and Fiction, a similar reading length.