The Times I Knew I Was Gay

Eleanor Crewes looks back at the many moments when she might have recognized she was gay, and at the reasons recognition did not immediately become acceptance. Childhood interests, awkward experiences with boys and a growing sense of not fitting in accumulate into a history that is clear only in retrospect. Coming out does not happen once and settle everything; it involves repeated choices, hesitation and the gradual development of confidence. Through intimate drawings and everyday incidents, this graphic memoir follows the difference between knowing something privately and allowing it to shape a life. Its focus is as much on learning to understand oneself as on finding a relationship with someone else.