''Finding H.F.'' is a 2001 young adult novel by Julia Watts, published by Alyson Books. It won the Lambda Literary Award for Children's/Young Adult fiction that same year. Set in the

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the war ...

, it describes the experience of being a lesbian teen in the Bible Belt.

Plot summary

Abandoned by her teenage mother as a baby, 16-year-old Heavenly Faith (H.F.) Simms has been raised by her loving but deeply conservative Baptist grandmother ('Memaw'). A tomboy and a

closeted ''Closeted'' and ''in the closet'' are metaphors for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and other (LGBTQ+) people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and human ...

lesbian, she is an outcast at school in the small rural mining town of Morgan, in southeastern Kentucky. Her best and only friend is Bo, an effeminate gay boy who is the punching bag for the high school football team, as well as for his violent alcoholic father. H.F.'s first lesbian experience comes when the beautiful new girl at school, Wendy Cook, invites her to a sleepover, where they get drunk on wine and make love. The following morning though, Wendy coldly rejects H.F.s advances, breaking her heart. The same day, H.F. discovers a shocking secret about her mother. Unable to cope with the pain in their lives, H.F. and Bo decide to embark on a road trip during spring break across the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

, from Kentucky to Florida.

References

External links

* 2001 American novels American LGBT novels American young adult novels Novels with lesbian themes Lesbian teen fiction Novels set in Kentucky Lambda Literary Award-winning works LGBT-related young adult novels Alyson Books books 2001 LGBT-related literary works {{2000s-ya-novel-stub