Melodie Starkey

View from the Closet Doorway Melodie Starkey

This award winning first novel is about a teenager's involuntary "coming out." Sullivan is reluctant to reveal his feelings, not wanting to risk losing his best friend, Kate, by openly admitting his gay inclinations. Things begin to go wrong when Kate announces that she is in love with the same guy that Sullivan has secretly had a crush on for three years. Additionally, his father becomes increasingly distant, missing several of their scheduled visits and leaving him stranded with his scathingly hostile sister and oblivious mother. His main venue of escape is to hang out at Kate's house, playing piano with her father's "oldies" rock band and subsisting on mountains of pizza. To further complicate his life, he discovers his father is canceling their scheduled visits because of a new woman. When one of the men in the band makes a pass at him, Sullivan takes the first steps in coming to terms with who he is and what really matters to him.