Musician Wesley Stace’s debut novel Misfortune is a gender-bending tale of a boy raised as a girl in 19th century England by an heir, Lord Geoffroy Loveall, who finds him abandoned in a trash heap. Loveall brings the baby Rose to his giant estate and declares him his daughter and heiress, but when Rose starts wondering about things like why she has the urge to pee standing up, their cover is blown. Stace manages to weave a giant cast of characters through plot twists as well as Victorian ballads to create a lengthy yet captivating story, and the engaging narration is enough to get you hooked.

Published by Little, Brown