A Million Quiet Revolutions

 Tell me a story...about transgender men throughout history

A Million Quiet Revolutions by Robin Gow

Publication date: March 22, 2022

Date read: July 4, 2022

For as long as they can remember, Aaron and Oliver have only ever had each other. In a small town with few queer teenagers, let alone young trans men, they’ve shared milestones like coming out, buying the right binders, and falling in love. But just as their relationship has started to blossom, Aaron moves away. To cope, they begin to dig deep into American history, coming across the story of two Revolutionary War soldiers who were rumored to be trans men in love. As they learn more, they delve further into unwritten queer stories and discover what it means to claim a place in history. 

This was a quick read, written in letters as the two main characters decide to pretend to be Revolutionary War soldiers writing to each other, as well as in their own voices as one character moves away. I’ve always liked books written in the epistolary format, so and I thought the addition of the alter egos was a really fun move. 

I loved that the characters dead names were never used in the text. Even when someone referred to that character, the name was blocked out. It wasn’t necessary to the plot and wasn’t acknowledged; it was just done as if it was a perfectly normal way to present things. Perfection. It wasn’t necessary to know the dead names for the plot, so no need to include them. I also thought that it was great that both boys had different perceptions about being trans and it wasn’t seen as weird or wrong; one wanted surgery, one didn’t, for example. 

This is a really simple book - no dramatic plot, just a sweet coming of age story between two trans boys - and I really enjoyed it. I can’t even really explain what specifically it was about this book that I liked (which makes writing a review more difficult).  But it is definitely a story that I would recommend for teens - trans or questioning teens, especially.  

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Content warning: transphobia, misgendering, deathnaming, sexual abuse in the church (mentioned), war (imagined)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.