Scott Terry’s novel The Gift is a heart-wrenching coming-of-age story that takes readers to Farnsworth, California, in the late 1960s—early 1970s. Pansy is a little girl who has seen more abuse and trauma than one should. When her father murders her mother, she goes to live with her Uncle in Salt Lake. At eighteen, she is looking for something more in life and meets Ace, a young man struggling against his identity and beliefs. Pansy is determined to marry Ace and move to Fresno, California, where they can start a new life together. When things do not go as planned, she ends up pregnant in Fresno alone. She is taken in hand by the Jehovah’s Witnesses where she finds a new sense of purpose and dedicates her life to the service of the Truth.

Seven years later, Pansy makes a decision that will forever alter the course of her life and that of her son, William. They move to the Siskiyou Mountains, and it is here that William meets the man who will become a surrogate father to him. The first cracks that appear in Pansy’s well planned and laid out life is when her son changes his name to Butch, a real cowboy name. This is the turning point for Butch, where he starts to struggle with his mother’s views on the world and Religion, the conservative view the mountain country, and his own self-identy.

The Gift is Butch’s story of trying balance the expectations of his church and mother with discovering and accepting his true authentic self. Butch tries to follow the teachings of his church but when he is caught kissing a boy, the church and his own mom turn on him, casting him out untill he repents for his sins and returns to a Godly way of living. Living in a place that shuns anyone different, especially those that identify as LGBT causes him to isolate himself and push aside the one man that he falls in love with. Butch’s life is one of secrecy in the mountains, meeting men in secret, while those in the city embrace the roaring 70s and live authentically in the public. He claims he is just a simple cowboy and is happy living alone, and that he doesn’t need the world to know about his business. But underneath it all, readers can see the struggle, the frustrations, and how his own pride keeps him from finding the happiness others keep telling him he deserves. There is a touching moment near the end after his mother calls him and tells him his father is dead and that he is “just like his father” that we get to see how the isolation of being gay in this time and place has hit him.

Scott Terry has given readers a story that accurately portrays the bigotry of the late 60s and early 70s, especially from the perspective of small town communities. He also sheds light on religious extremism that uses fear and isolation to get members to conform to their way of life. Butch’s story is one of survival, self-discovery, and acceptance. While written about a period in the past, The Gift is still relevant today and is an excellent choice for LGBTQ+ readers struggling to find their way and accept who they are, or anyone who enjoys family dramas.

Pages: 294 | ASIN : B0DV9Y68SS