Detransition, Baby

Detransition, Baby (2021) is Torrey Peters’s first novel. It received critical acclaim and was nominated for the United Kingdom’s Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2021. This guide follows the first edition of the novel.

Plot Summary

Detransition, Baby follows three main characters—Reese, Ames, and Katrina—who consider raising a baby together. Reese is a trans woman living in Brooklyn who occupies her time having affairs with married men. She was previously in a long-term relationship with Amy, a trans woman who has detransitioned and is now a cisgender man named Ames. At the beginning of the novel, Katrina, Ames’s boss, has sex with him and gets pregnant as a result. At this time, Katrina is unaware of Ames’s past experience as a trans woman. When Ames tells Katrina about his trans identity, Katrina is hurt and angered by his secrecy.

Soon after, Reese receives a phone call from Ames, who tells Reese about the baby and wants to talk. Though Ames has feelings for Katrina, he feels ambivalent about the idea of being a father, partially due to his lingering discomfort with masculinity. Ames meets with Reese to discuss the baby and proposes that Reese raise the baby together with Katrina and Ames, as Ames knows Reese longs to be a mother. Though Reese is incredulous at first, she tells Ames that she is open to the proposal.

At a work trip in Chicago, a still-hurt Katrina outs Ames to their straight male clients. The next day, Katrina and Ames finally discuss Ames’s struggles with his gender identity, and Ames tells Katrina his idea to raise the child together with Reese. While this proposal initially further angers Katrina, she tells Ames she is open to it after speaking with her mother, who encourages her to consider it. Ames invites Reese to come to a work event to meet Katrina, where the two women have a tense discussion about their complicated feelings and resentments surrounding the pregnancy.

In several chapters, the novel jumps back in time to explore Reese and Amy’s relationship and subsequent break-up: In her twenties, Reese begins a relationship with a man named Stanley who is in the process of getting divorced. Though Stanley is domineering and abusive, Reese remains in the relationship because she feels Stanley is dependable. After Reese meets Amy at a picnic, the two become infatuated with each other and quickly start a relationship. Reese moves in with Amy. As several years go by, their relationship grows more serious, and they consider adopting a child. However, Reese reconnects with Stanley and cheats on Amy with him, leading to a violent confrontation between Amy and Stanley. Amy is so traumatized by the encounter that she begins to detransition, feeling frustrated and cynical about the difficulties of life as a trans woman. Reese and Amy become alienated from each other, and Reese leaves Amy.

In the novel’s present day, Reese and Katrina slowly develop a deep bond as they discuss their plans for parenting. At times, they face conflict because Reese resents that Katrina is able to get pregnant, while Katrina feels that Reese is unsympathetic towards Katrina’s plight as a mother. However, they work through these conflicts and are excited about the family they are starting. Katrina brings Reese to a party and abruptly announces the pregnancy to her friends, explaining her optimism about her new queer family. Though initially skeptical, Katrina’s friends come around and congratulate Reese and Katrina. However, Reese recognizes one of the friends’ husbands as he arrives to pick her up and realizes that he is an HIV positive man she has been having an affair with.

Katrina is furious to learn about the affair, and announces that she wants to end the pregnancy, feeling that Reese isn’t trustworthy. In response, Reese writes an angry email to Ames and Katrina, accusing them of gentrifying queerness and being unwilling to deal with queer relationships when they become complicated. Katrina grows further enraged and decides to abort her pregnancy. Reese goes to the beach to mourn the lost child and wants to submerge herself in the cold water to numb her sadness. People on the beach mistakenly believe Reese is trying to kill herself, and Reese is taken to a hospital. Ames and Katrina come to pick her up. On the day of Katrina’s planned abortion, Reese and Ames go to her apartment to accompany her. Reese begs Katrina not to go through with the abortion. The novel ends with the three of them considering their lives and the baby, leaving the reader uncertain whether they will proceed with the pregnancy or with parenting together.