The Miseducation of Cameron Post

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a coming-of-age teen novel by Emily M. Danforth published in 2012. The novel's protagonist is Cameron Post, a 12-year-old Montana girl who is discovering her own homosexuality. After her parents die in a car crash, she lives with her conservative aunt and her grandmother. When the romantic relationship she develops with her best friend is discovered she is sent to a conversion camp. According to Danforth, the novel was influenced by the 2005 Zach Stark controversy, where teenager Zach Stark was sent to a conversion camp run by Love In Action after coming out to his parents. The story is set in the author's hometown, Miles City, Montana, in the 1990s. Plot The Miseducation of Cameron Post begins in the summer of 1989 in Miles City, Montana, when protagonist and narrator Cameron Post is 12 years old. Cameron has been shoplifting and kissing her friend Irene Klauson while her parents die in a car accident at Quake Lake, which they visited every year. Cameron's very religious Aunt Ruth moves in with Cameron and her grandmother. Cameron begins renting VHS movies and decorating her old dollhouse to cope with her grief, and stops spending time with Irene. Irene's family discovers a fossil on their property, which results in great success and wealth for them, and Irene goes away to a boarding school. At Aunt Ruth's request, Cameron begins attending a new church, Gates of Praise, and its youth group, Firepower. During the summer before starting high school, Cameron becomes close friends with Lindsey Lloyd, who joins the swim team with her while she stays with her father in Miles City for the summer. Lindsey is a lesbian and tells Cameron about her experiences with gay pride in Seattle, where she lives during the rest of the year with her mother. Cameron and Lindsey pursue a casual relationship, which mostly consists of kissing. They stay in touch after Lindsey returns to Seattle at the end of the summer. Aunt Ruth begins dating Ray, who sells frozen goods around the local area.