Let Them Stare

A Novel

By: Jonathan Van Ness, Julie Murphy

Narrated by: Jonathan Van Ness, Jeremy Arthur

An instant New York Times and Indie bestseller about friendship, love—and discovering the secrets and beauty of your own hometown.!

From Emmy Award winner Jonathan Van Ness of Queer Eye and #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy comes a bighearted story about a gender-nonconforming teen who buys a vintage handbag, only to find it haunted by the ghost of a drag performer from the fifties with no memory of how he died.

Sully is ready to get out of Hearst, Pennsylvania. With a fashion internship secured, the gender-nonconforming eighteen-year-old is trading in their stifling small town for the big city. Sully even sells their beloved car, to Bread—er, Brad—the most boring (and maybe only other) gay kid in town.

When Sully’s internship goes up in smoke, they’re trapped in Hearst with no cash—and no car. Desperate, they go to the thrift store, their personal sanctuary. There, they discover a vintage bag—like "put this baby in an airtight case at the MET" vintage. If Sully can authenticate it, the resale value would be enough for a new life in the city.

But when they begin to investigate, Sully finds themself haunted. Literally. With the ghost of Rufus, a drag performer from the fifties with no memory of how he died standing—no, floating—in their bedroom, Sully’s summer has a new purpose: 1) help this ghostly honey unlock his past and move on and 2) make bank—after all, the Real Real doesn’t take poltergeist purses.

With Rufus in tow, and Brad—who’s looking pretty scrumptious these days—playing chauffeur, Sully delves into the history of the town they’re so desperate to escape. Only to discover that there might be more to Hearst than they ever knew.

“A quirky, passionate, rebellious, and quick-witted novel." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Love it!

I love how this story connects the past and the present in a fun and heartfelt way. People sometimes get stuck sulking about disappointments in their own lives they forget to open their eyes, ears, and hearts to learn from others, living or otherwise.

Loved loved loved it!!!!

This story was educational and entertaining and so much fun!! I loved it so much and highly recommend it!!

Fun and entertaining!

This is an Entertaining story containing a mystery with interesting characters and some hilarious dialogue.

Very exciting!

I really enjoyed listening to this book. It was creative and fun and had twists and turns! Recommend for a fun listen!

Let Them indeed

This was a very creative way to share past and present issues all at the same time. It moves fairly well through events and hits on some really great introspection and needed topics of discussion.