Trust and Safety
A Novel
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
“Distressingly smart, wickedly sly, and side-clutchingly hilarious.”
—Vanessa Chan, author of The Storm We Made
“If you want a book that perfectly evokes millennial sexual politics under late-stage capitalism, and in which all of us—gay, straight, cis, and trans alike—are read for absolute filth, then look no further than Trust and Safety.”
—Rafael Frumkin, author of Confidence and Bugsy
A wry yet tenderhearted novel about a couple who attempt to buy their way into a “wild and precious” existence in the Hudson Valley, where they quickly become entangled with a queer couple living the dream analog life
Newlywed Rosie has grown disenchanted with NYC. Inspired by Instagram ads, she starts thirsting for a rural life upstate—one full of beauty and authenticity. She just needs to convince her tech-bro husband, Jordan, of her vision for the future. Willing to do anything for Rosie’s happiness, Jordan signs on, and they offer—well above asking price—on a beautiful, historic fixer-upper in the Hudson Valley.
But when Jordan suddenly loses his job, the couple is forced to rent out the property’s dilapidated outbuilding. There’s no heat, it’s overrun with mold, and nothing works.
Enter Dylan and Lark: an incredibly attractive and handy queer couple who offer to rent the outbuilding and help Rosie and Jordan with repairs. They also happen to be living the life Rosie had envisioned for herself: hand-built furniture, herbal tinctures, guinea hens, and hand-dyed linens. Rosie grows increasingly infatuated with their new tenants, especially with model-esque, charismatic Dylan—to Jordan’s increasing distress.
Whip-smart and wickedly funny, Trust and Safety examines questions of authenticity, betrayal, belonging, and entitlement, while poking fun at contemporary fear of the “gay agenda.”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gleichman and Blackett (The Very Nice Box) satirize homophobia in their clever latest. When Rosie, 30, marries handsome tech lawyer Jordan Prawn, she hopes the partnership will bring her stability. Instead, she grows disillusioned with New York City and her job as a canvasser for an LGBTQ advocacy group. While browsing Zillow, she imagines a new life and convinces Jordan to put an offer on her dream house in Upstate New York. Jordan empties his savings to close the deal, then loses his job at a start-up after its personal assistant device courts controversy when it calls a straight user a "hot dyke," and the company tanks. They rent out their shed to Dylan and Lark, two attractive women who belong to a queer polycule. Rosie becomes fascinated with the new tenants, who enthusiastically help her and Jordan with renovation projects and lead an appealingly unplugged lifestyle (Dylan uses a flip phone and builds furniture by hand). As Rosie's desire for Dylan grows, she begins questioning her life's choices. Blackett and Gleichman expertly build suspense following a bombshell revelation about Dylan's true nature, and Jordan and his business partner's attempts to consult with Dylan and Lark for a new family planning app are irresistibly cringeworthy. This intrigues and unsettles in equal measure.
