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Tallent's big-hearted coming-of-age novel centers an intense friendship between two 17-year-old rock climbers from working-class backgrounds and features both exhilarating passages about climbing and a tender portrait of platonic love. Tama is a dirty, foul-mouthed, queer girl who lives for climbing, which is her sole aspiration in life. Nothing will stand in her way, including poverty, a dysfunctional family, or a lack of reliable equipment. Her buddy, Dan, academically gifted and deliberate, feels most like himself when he's on the rocks with Tama but is vacillating between taking off to climb or attending college after graduation as the adults in his life are pressuring him to do. These two try to climb their way out of less-than-stellar circumstances and their mothers' intertwined pasts, as they figure out what the future holds in this propulsive, generous and life-affirming novel that will also appeal to a mature YA audience.