Headfirst - by Genevieve Hudson (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

"Fun as hell . . . An anthem for living and loving with abandon."--Chelsea Bieker, author of Madwoman

"Hudson's writing is magnetic. It's the Kristen Stewart of prose--chameleon-like, layered, funny and serious and sad, really gay, and so attractive . . . It wrecked me, just like I wanted."--Them, on Boys of Alabama

From the acclaimed author of Boys of Alabama comes a propulsive and sexy novel about difficult decisions, bad timing, and the one who got away

From the outside, Reed has a great life. She lives in Amsterdam, works as a "creative" at a Dutch ad agency, and has a caring, driven girlfriend with whom she is trying to conceive a child. But, below the surface not everything is as it seems. Through a series of small choices and little compromises, Reed has lost sight of who she is and what she wants. A trip home to Charleston to attend her best friend's wedding makes her wonder--who were those choices and compromises for?

When Reed is confronted with a long-lost love, she is faced with questions she can't avoid. What kind of person does she want to be: one who plays it safe or takes risks? What life will she live, a comfortable or ambitious one? And, which part of her will set the terms for her life: her anxiety or her truest desires?

Review Quotes

Praise for Headfirst:

"Headfirst is a delicious, horny drama--capacious with love, abundant with joy. Hudson, as always, spellbinds in their remarkable prose, asking expansive questions about commitment, friendship, gender performance, and what it means to grow up. Headfirst indulges an irresistible nostalgia; the messy buzz of youth. Humid and electric, these pages will keep you rapt and leave you reawakened."--T Kira Māhealani Madden, author of Whidbey and Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls

"Genevieve Hudson has composed a brilliant rumination on love, lust, friendship, adulthood, and art making. Full of longing, desire, and aching curiosity, this is a novel about running from yourself and finding yourself at the exact same time. Funny, wise, keenly observed, and exuberantly poetic, Headfirst is for anyone who has ever shirked their responsibilities or questioned their life's choices--in other words, it's for every single one of us."--Kimberly King Parsons, author of National Book Award-nominated Black Light and We Were the Universe

"Headfirst is the perfect balance of steam and heart, deeply intelligent yet wild. Genevieve Hudson has penned a perfectly chaotic one-that-got-away love story that captures all the paralyzing anxieties of modern love and life. Page-turning, fun as hell, and ultimately heartbreaking and heart-mending, this book is about taking the chances we must while there is still time on the clock. An anthem for living and loving with abandon."--Chelsea Bieker, author of Madwoman and Godshot

"Sexy, queer and unputdownable Headfirst is the literary world's next great crossover: a radical re-envisioning of the romantic comedy, a beach read, and an artful, intellectual, and deeply felt examination of identity forged beyond binaries. I read this book in one sitting and have been thinking of it ever since."--Allie Rowbottom, author of Lovers XXX and Aesthetica

"Headfirst is the hot, tender, and uncannily familiar queer social novel I've been waiting for. Genevieve Hudson takes over the technology of fiction to deliver a work that shows us ourselves, in all our luscious, lustful, and messy glory. I see myself and my friends in this book; I see love, longing, and contradiction. It is profound to read a book and recognize your own experience. It made me laugh, cry, and celebrate the ways we search for lives that fulfill us. This book is needed, and next level. I love it."--Cyrus Dunham, author of A Year Without a Name

Praise for Boys of Alabama:

"Hudson's writing is magnetic. It's the Kristen Stewart of prose--chameleon-like, layered, funny and serious and sad, really gay, and so attractive . . . It wrecked me, just like I wanted."--Them, on Boys of Alabama

"Boys of Alabama brilliantly reinvents the Southern Gothic . . . An absolutely magical novel."--Leni Zumas, author of Red Clocks

"[Depicts] a brand of Southern-fried masculinity that is immediately recognizable and startlingly fresh. This is an exquisite book."--Nick White, author of How to Survive a Summer

"A gripping, uncanny, and queer exploration of being a boy in America, told with detail that dazzles and disturbs."--Michelle Tea, author of Against Memoir

"Genevieve Hudson creates a new American erotics of longing and belonging, flush with want and desire, hope and home, translation and transformation."--Matt Bell, author of Scrapper

"Hudson goes right to a place where violence comes from--uncomfortably close to desire for magic, God, sex, whatever might actually heal us--and doesn't turn away."--Kristin Dombek, author of The Selfishness of Others

"One of the finest--and weirdest!--first novels I've read in quite some long time."--Tom Bissell, author of Apostle and coauthor of The Disaster Artist

"Reminds us that behind so many of America's most rigid beliefs lies the lonely human heart: twitchy, slippery, alive."--Mikkel Rosengaard, author of The Invention of Ana

"This novel is a love song to outsiders of all kinds, a queer love story about the ways we find to heal ourselves and each other, and proof that there can be magic amid the burdens of masculinity."--Melissa Febos, author of The Dry Season

About the Author

Genevieve Hudson is the author of the novel Boys of Alabama, which was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award and Stonewall Honor Book, and a 2020 Okra Pick from the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance. Her story collection Pretend We Live Here was a Lambda Literary Award Finalist. She has received fellowships from the Fulbright Program, MacDowell, Ucross Foundation, and elsewhere. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her wife and dogs.