America’s Boy
By Wade Rouse
Wade rouse is the internationally bestselling author of multiple books, which have been translated into nearly 20 languages. Wade also publishes fiction under his grandmother’s name, Viola Shipman. Her heirlooms and family stories have inspired his fiction. See the Product Description below for details about this book. Please buy all of your books directly from the author or an independent Michigan bookstore.
| Product Price | $22.99 |
Product Description
In this memoir, writer and journalist Wade Rouse delivers a humorous and heartwarming account of his Midwestern childhood and coming of age as a gay man.
Born in Granby, a small farm town in the southwest Missouri Ozarks, Wade was a fish out of water as long as he could remember—or at least since he participated in his family’s mock Miss America pageant when he was just five years old, clad in his grandmother’s red “whore” heels and his mother’s black-and-white polka-dot bikini.
Life didn’t get easier in Wade’s conservative hometown, especially after his older brother died just a month after Wade graduated junior high school. It was then that Wade buried his brother—and his sexuality, so his parents wouldn’t mourn the loss of a second son. Finally, after years of a descent into obsessive-compulsive behaviors and overeating, Wade was able to come out to himself, losing weight and gaining confidence until he had nothing left to hide.
This is a gift that can demonstrate unconditional love and understanding to someone who is, or has, struggled with their identity.
