Mad Honey

One of the story’s main characters and the other of its two narrators, Lily is 18 years old in the book’s “present” timeline. The story begins with her death, and her narrative recounts in reverse the details of her life. Lily grew up in Seattle, resettling in California after her mother took her away from her father when she was 12 because he was abusive and refused to accept her gender identity; later, before Lily’s senior year, the Campanellos settle in Adams, New Hampshire. Lily fences and plays the cello. Maya Banerjee is one of her closest friends and the girl through whom she meets her boyfriend, Asher Fields, who is Olivia’s son.

Lily is transgender. Her experiences with gender identity and expression and its impact on her relationships are significant parts of her perspective and story. Having been rejected and abused by her father, Lily grows up with the constant sense of having to be on her guard for who she is. She defaults to secrecy about her past because the truth has cost her dearly. She experienced hurt and betrayal at the hands of people she loved, from her father to her friend and ex-boyfriend. Her experiences even rendered led her to attempt death by suicide at one point.

Nevertheless, Lily finds space for hope, trust, and love in her life. A function of this is the unwavering love and support she finds in her mother, Ava. As much as her father reviled her for who she was all her life, Ava accepted and supported her throughout. Ava’s active involvement in helping Lily feel comfortable in her body, including changing her mind about allowing Lily to have surgery, helps Lily believe that in the possibility for love and acceptance of people like her. Thus, despite having been assaulted by a boyfriend after he learned she was trans, Lily chooses to confess the truth to Asher. This decision—which eventually pays off when Asher loves and accepts her for who she is—points to Lily’s resilience: She takes control of the narrative and owns her truth rather than allowing someone else to reveal her history.

Olivia McAfee’s son, Asher is 18 years old at the beginning of the story. He’s the co-captain of his school hockey team and is generally well-liked by his teachers and peers. His closest friend is Maya Banerjee, with whom he has been friends throughout childhood. In his senior year of high school, he begins dating Lily and confesses to her that she’s the first girl he has ever loved.

Asher is sensitive, responsible, and hardworking. Most of his character is revealed through Olivia’s recollections and Lily’s memories of him, though his hockey coach describes him the same way in his character witness testimony during the trial. Asher’s sensitive and considerate nature comes through in his very first interaction with Lily, when he steps in and saves her from Dirk’s advances. Asher is clearly capable of deep and intense love, and he consistently reiterates his love for Lily throughout their relationship. The biggest testament to this is his acceptance of Lily as trans; he loves who Lily is as a person, not “what” she is. His love for her is, in part, what motivates him to try and stage a reconciliation between Lily and her estranged father, hoping that it will help bring Lily some peace and closure.

However, Asher himself later admits that this was a misplaced aim, stemming from his own unresolved issues regarding his relationship with Braden. Asher’s conception of and relationship with his father defines a significant part of his identity. He deeply desires to understand where he comes from, despite—or perhaps because of—Braden’s history of abuse toward Olivia. Part of Asher compartmentalizes the behavior as contained within his parents’ relationship and unrelated to him; this allows him to want to engage with the man who hurt his mother. However, Asher equally acknowledges and worries about whether he has inherited Braden’s violent tendencies, flashes of which appear in his relationship with Lily. Even as Asher eventually accepts that Braden doesn’t care about him the way a father ought to, or Asher needs him to, he continues to harbor a hope that people can change. This hope eventually has more to do with Asher not wanting to repeat the patterns of his parents’ past than with him wanting Braden back in his life. In some ways, the story’s ending suggests this possibility for change in Asher’s character as he starts life afresh at a university.