Terry Dactyl

Sycamore (Touching the Art) spins a shimmering tale of art, drugs, and friendship spanning from the AIDS crisis to the Covid-19 pandemic. The reader first meets Terry, a young “coked up” trans woman new to New York City, in the early 1990s, when she’s dancing at the Limelight. That night, she joins a group of club kids on a trek to the Hudson River, to spread the ashes of their friend who died of AIDS. Several years later, Terry wanders into an art gallery high on ecstasy and dressed all in pink. The gallery owner, Sabine Roth, has been looking for an assistant with a connection to the nightlife scene, and she hires Terry on the spot. What follows is a whirlwind of parties and exhibitions set against the continuous loss of friends and lovers from AIDS. By the time Terry is middle-aged and back in her hometown of Seattle, a new pandemic has begun, and she joins in the 2020 Black Lives Matter marches. With Terry, Sycamore has crafted an arresting voice, equal parts youthful energy and hard-won wisdom, that swerves from offhanded aphorisms to lyrical images: “Yes, the best way to dance is with a broken heart. A dead leaf flying through the air like a butterfly.” It’s indelible. Agent: Rebecca Friedman, Rebecca Friedman Literary. (Nov.)