Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens

Tanya Bateju’s debut novel, Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens, is a delightfully accessible and even humorous exploration of gender and sexuality, experienced through the eyes of shy, awkward Nima Kumara-Clark, a biracial queer girl living in the small community of Bridgeton. Nima lives with her father—her mother having left them both unexpectedly—and spends most of her time hanging out with her friend Charles, dealing with having a crush on her other friend Ginny, and trying to steer clear of Gordon, a local bully. When she attends a local festival, she encounters a bewitching girl named Winnow. When Nima is invited to a show at one of the tents later that night, she finds herself suddenly drawn into a world she never expected, a world of drag kings and queens, a world of possibilities and surprising new friendships.

Not only does Nima become friends with Diedre, a local drag queen who also befriends her father, but she also does her best to overcome her self-consciousness and go on a first date with a girl (spoiler alert: it’s pretty awkward!) At the same time, Nima is also trying to understand why her mother left, but when a letter from her mother shows up one day with a puzzling message, a whole lot of secrets about her parents and their family history start coming to the surface. Throughout the summer, Nima will have to do some deep soul-searching about her own identity and how she fits into the world of her new friends.

Although Winnow is reminiscent of a manic pixie dream girl, her relationship with Nima is complex and about as tumultuous as one might expect. Diedre is a fabulously supportive figure within the narrative, providing depth and perspective to many of the younger characters. One of the most fully realized and heartbreaking characters is Gordon. His motivations for bullying are complicated as he truly grows throughout the course of the novel, particularly in regard to his own self-identification and his willingness to try to change, at least in part.

Aside from a bit of a slow start, Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens, a character-driven book, is a welcome and joyful addition to the ever-expanding body of literature exploring and celebrating those who identify along and within the LGBTQ+ spectrum. Nima’s journey of self-discovery, along with the relationships she builds over the course of her summer, will stick with teen readers for a long time.