Tegan Quin - High School

Advance Praise for

by Tegan and Sara

One of the most interesting and brave coming-of-age stories I have read in many years. Tegan and Sara reveal the confusion, the unraveling of personal truths, the fear, the excitement, the shame, and the seclusion that many of us endure as we make our way through the world. This is also a book about how music saves people, how music gives us a voice and a reason to keep going.

J ANN A RDEN , singer-songwriter and author of Feeding My Mother

To navigate the experiential landscape of high school is always an emotional minefield. To have Tegan and Sara unabashedly share the perspective of young lesbians is a rare and invaluable gift, the kind of empathetic education our society is starved for.

K. D. L ANG , singer-songwriter

What a gift to read the coming-of-age story of the brilliant Tegan and Sara. High School gives us a glimpse into the struggles and triumphs of both sisters as individuals and an evolving band. Their vulnerability, honesty, and compassion burst through, and I know [it] will make countless people feel less alone. It is so important for the LGBTQ+ community to have memoirs like this to be able to recognize themselves and be inspired to follow their truth. Oh what I would have done to have this book in high school. I am endlessly grateful to Tegan and Sara for giving so much to this world.

E LLEN P AGE, actor and producer

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever listened to a song by Tegan and Sara that while not only are they able to convey the raw and complex emotions of the high school experience, the aimlessness of suburban life, and the exhilaration of finding your way out, they also speak universal truths about intimacy between families and sisters, friends and lovers. Theyve captured a time and a place so perfectly, I cant exactly be sure that I wasnt there.

B USY P HILIPPS , actor and author of New York Times bestselling This Will Only Hurt a Little

A genius memoir. Tegan and Sara are massively gifted songwriters, so it shouldnt have shocked me like it did. Theres simply nothing like it. Its a completely original, utterly gripping, gorgeously written and captivating memoir that must be read. Tegan and Sara are bold, brilliant storytellers. High School is the freshest, most beautiful, and fearlessly powerful coming-of-age memoir.

A UGUSTEN B URROUGHS , New York Times bestselling author of Running with Scissors and Toil & Trouble

Tegan and Sara have pulled back the curtain on a formative chapter in their lives and offer a gloriously dizzying, richly observed account of how they became who they are today and what inspired the music weve come to know and love. Funny, frank, and so very cool, High School is basically the teenage best friend I always wanted growing up.

D AN L EVY , actor, writer, and producer

Intense, vulnerable, and life-affirmingeverything Im looking for! Tegan and Sara take us back through their whirlwind journey, densely packed with the intricate complications and the envious, unspoken connection of growing up [with] an identical twin.

A BBI J ACOBSON , comedian and author of I Might Regret This

Candid, tender, courageously honest, and heartbreakingly familiar; I could see myself and my own experience reflected in these stories, more so than in anything else Ive ever read. Reading this book moved me deeply.

J ULIEN B AKER , singer and songwriter

Deeply moving, relatable.... High School never holds back from the absolute authenticity Tegan and Sara have become known for. I never wanted the book to end.

C LEA D UVALL , actor and writer

High School highlights the indisputable fact that Tegan and Sara were never just musiciansthey are master storytellers. In reflecting on that torturous span of time spent agonizing over ones body, friendships, parents, and desires, this book highlights how high school is less of a place or memory but a metaphor for uncertainty, and underlines the salvation that can only be found in music. High School foreshadows the beginning of a rich and riveting literary career.

V IVEK S HRAYA , musician and author of Im Afraid of Men

This account of the pains and pleasures of dirtbag queer-girl adolescence is everything you could want from a memoir: honest and hilarious, dishy and sweet, smart and self-aware, and utterly charming. What a gift to get this view of Tegan and Sara as sisters, as friends, and as artistic collaborators, as they were becoming musical icons, andmore importantthemselves.

C ARMEN M ARIA M ACHADO , author of Her Body and Other Parties

An engrossing, sharply crafted, deeply authentic look at the misery of (queer) adolescence and the gorgeous glory of becoming yourself. So much angst and revelation, depression, inebriation, inspiration, vulnerability, and power. A wild, teenage ride I could not put down.

M ICHELLE T EA , author of Against Memoir

High School embodies the singular gift of words leaping off of the page and becoming feelings, rattling around in the hearts and minds of a reader. The truth of nostalgia is that it must have multiple lenses to operate in its most flourishing form. Much like in their music, in this book the voices of Tegan and Sara are two distinct bodies of water flowing into the same harmonious river, spilling through the echoing hallways of old high schools, through the bedrooms of first heartbreaks, through the old haunts that remind you of your own. This book is a triumph of memory, affection, and engaging writing.

H ANIF A BDURRAQIB , author of Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest

This book is the LSD-fueled, wallet-chained, Kurt Cobaininspired handbook of how to become young, queer rock stars, written by chapter-swapping twins whom I wish I had read when I was in high school. This book would have changed everything. I recommend reading it under the covers with a flashlight, and hiding it from your mother.

I VAN C OYOTE , author of Tomboy Survival Guide and Rebent Sinner

Simon & Schuster Canada

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166 King Street East, Suite 300

Toronto, Ontario M5A 1J3

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Copyright 2019 by Tegan and Sara

You Suck written by: The Murmurs MCA Records. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Lyrics used by permission, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC.

The names and certain other details of many characters appearing in High School have been changed.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Simon & Schuster Canada Subsidiary Rights Department, 166 King Street East, Suite 300, Toronto, Ontario, M5A 1J3.

This Simon & Schuster Canada edition September 2019

SIMON & SCHUSTER CANADA and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-800-268-3216 or .

Interior Design by Abby Kagan

Jacket photo by Bruce MacDougall

Cover design by Emy Storey

Hand lettering by NA Kim

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: High school / Tegan Quin and Sara Quin

Names: Quin, Tegan, 1980 author | Quin, Sara, 1980 author.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20190077344 | Canadiana (ebook) 20190077395 | ISBN 9781982112660 (hard cover) | ISBN 9781982112684 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Tegan and SaraHistory and criticism. | LCSH: MusiciansCanadaBiography. | LCSH: Quin, Tegan, 1980- | LCSH: Quin, Sara, 1980