Talking at Night: A Novel

Content Warning: The source material and this guide reference body image struggles, anti-gay bias, suicide, and addiction to alcohol.

In November, 18-year-old Will White attends a bonfire with his friend Josh Winters and Josh’s twin sister Rosie. He’s never noticed Rosie at school before and feels drawn to her in the firelight, inexplicably telling her that his mom left them when he was young, something he’s never told anyone. Josh begins playing the guitar, and when Rosie sings, Will thinks it’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever heard. He and Rosie talk by the firelight long into the night.

Will lives with his grandmother and his sister Amber. The next day, Will sleeps late and works on his new motorcycle, his prized possession. Being in the garage with his bike, surrounded by all his grandfather's tools, “[…] is the only place where things feel somewhat right to him, where everything has a purpose, and nobody talks or doubts or expects things” (8). He tries not to think of Rosie while he works.

Rosie stays late in the music room, working on a new composition. She goes to the gym to run only to appease her mom.