What is Where You’ll Find Us about?
Calla Quick is in crisis mode. Her parents have disowned her, she can’t tell her girlfriend Ramona exactly why, and she has nowhere to live or no way to pay for her tuition at the all girls college they have planned to attend together.
She has no idea how she is going to share the most important worry of all – she isn’t sure she’s a girl at all. It all comes to a head at the school ball, and distraught but together Calla and Ramona flee from a storm. Through the darkness they discover a house that welcomes them in…
In this house are others who have also been confused, lost their direction or themselves, and are taking time to figure it out. But time stands still here… until it doesn’t.
Plot summary of Where You’ll Find Us (No Spoilers)
Calla knows she has to tell the whole truth about her parent’s text. It completely disowns her from her home, her dog, her family and her future. Her girlfriend Ramona comes to the rescue in more ways than one, but it’s too much for Calla and her deepest secret. She flees their high school senior ball and choices she must make.
Ramona follows Calla and they suddenly find themselves in a storm, in the dark, upset and confused. When they see a house lit up in the dark, they head for its shelter – not knowing their lives will change forever.
Inside they meet five others who have faced similar challenges in their lives. They welcome Calla and Ramona to the special house named Amaranth – a haven for anyone needing space and time to escape a past, work through something, or find themselves.
The kindness, time and understanding from these strangers allow Calla to finally realise themselves and know they are really Cal, and always have been. Decisions must be made about their future with Ramona, especially when time begins to pass, when it never has before.
Review
This is a beautifully written novel and what the main character Cal must go through on the page is heart wrenching. I especially enjoyed the chapters where each character’s past is shared with the reader, and their journey to the haven of Amaranth. These chapters show readers what it was like for members of the queer community through time.
Watching Cal realise and become their true self is both difficult and joyful to experience, and the connections through the characters through the years at the end of the novel is gorgeous.
This is a story of love and pain, truth and deception (inside and out), futures and pasts, of discrimination and hope.
Book Style
402 pages / Short chapters / Bios of characters interspersed through chapters / 5 pages of resources around the world for readers
FAQ’s
What age is it for?
13+
Where & When is it set?
A fictional school named: Miss Stone’s School for Girls / A house where there is no time passing
What is the Point of View / Tense of the novel?
First person / Present tense
Content warnings from the author:
​ Transphobia, accidental outing, homophobia, racism, xenophobia, sexual assault (not on the page), suicidal ideation, imprisonment, HIV/AIDS and related discrimination, violence, death of relatives, death of an animal (not the dog!), fatphobia, bullying, cancer, dementia, vomiting, drug use, sex (not on the page).
What genre is Where You’ll Find Us?
Young Adult Fantasy / LGBTQ+ Fiction
Themes
Historical / Fantasy / LGBTQ+ / Friendship / Love
Is it part of a series?
No
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Author
Jen St Jude
Publisher
Penguin UK
(2026, Penguin Books, LGBTQ+, Love, Friendship, Historical, Family, Animals, Art, Creativity, Cooking, Music, Trust, Kindness, Magical House, HIV, Discrimination)