December 1, 2021
Newly single after discovering stuck-up boyfriend Tobbs has been unfaithful, on the streets because his roommates want to start a family, and struggling to find contentment with his journalist job after having abandoned smalltown life for London, Danny moves into the East London "commune" of upbeat nonbinary friend Jacob. Soon, Danny discovers that life has more possibilities than he ever imagined. From a recipient of the London Writers Award.
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March 14, 2022
Fry debuts with a tender and funny story of a white gay man shedding his repression. Twenty-seven-year-old Londoner Danny Scudd’s life has fallen apart. His first boyfriend dumps him following an STI scare, an episode that reveals Danny was wrong to believe their relationship was monogamous; his roommates kick him out; and his job with a clickbait app crushes his aspirations to be a “serious journalist.” He moves in with his childhood best friend, Jacob, a Black nonbinary performance artist, and his foray into therapy uncorks big feelings, leading to a series of questionable hookups. He’s photographed while at a die-in for gay rights in Chechnya, an episode which results in him becoming a meme. Back home, he reports his boss, Stan, for having sex with a coworker at the office, getting Stan fired and himself promoted. He then tries to leverage his moment of internet fame for his company’s success, alienating Jacob in the process. As Danny weathers one wild episode after another, Fry leavens moments of despair with acid humor (“Afterward, people will say I died as I lived: slow as fuck and constantly breaking down,” Danny reflects as he stares ominously at train tracks). Throughout, this effervescent chronicle rings true. Agent: Haley Steed, Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency.
April 1, 2022
Poor Danny. His tribulations rival those of Job. The 27-year-old Londoner has an STD; his partner is dumping him; he can't stand his job as an editor for a second-rate culture-and-listings app; he suffers from undiagnosed panic attacks; and his landlady has asked him to move out. But where to go? "Is there a place in the world where I really belong?" he laments. Perhaps, for the only silver lining in the sea of clouds that is his life is his best friend, Jacob, who, like Danny, is gay (flamboyantly so). Jacob insists that Danny come and live with them in his East London quasi commune. Perhaps he'll fit there with other queer people, but one of Danny's more pressing problems is that he doesn't really know what being queer means. Fry's first novel, a kind of queer Bildungsroman, has a not-unfamiliar premise, but its execution is excellent, dramatically showing how Danny becomes a 2.0 version of himself. And guess what? It turns out there really is a first time for everything.
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Starred review from May 1, 2022
Danny Scudd is a 27-year-old Londoner with only a vague idea of who he is. He might be a journalist, if the click-bait content he writes for his job at a culture app counts as writing (he doesn't think it does). He might be a boyfriend, if only Tobbs, the man he considers his partner, hadn't sent him to the clinic with a mysterious disease that turns out to be sexually transmitted. He might also be a best friend to his childhood pal Jacob, the biracial, nonbinary performance artist who's always the center of attention, which is fine by Danny. One thing Danny, whose parents own a small-town fish-and-chip shop, is sure of: He's gay. But even in his late 20s, he's struggling to figure out who he is and who he wants to be. For someone who would rather tend to his houseplants than mingle at a house party, those questions feel overwhelming. But thanks to a new therapist, a breakup with Tobbs, an eviction from his flat, and a new home in Jacob's creative queer commune in East London, Danny is forced to question everything he once knew about himself, his style, and the people around him. A memorable cast of characters helps propel Danny through this pivotal time as he experiences bad dates, becoming an (embarrassing!) meme, an unexpected promotion, and more. The story--told through humorous prose, text messages, diary entries, and the inner ramblings of Danny's unfiltered mind--is an entertaining, fast-paced read. A queer coming-of-adulthood story told with humor, tenderness, and quirk.
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