When your parents die, you find out who they really were.

Griffon Keming's second parents saved him from his abusive family. They taught him how to be trans, paid for his transition, and tried to love him as best they could. But Griffon's new parents had troubles of their own-both were deeply scarred by the lives they lived before Griffon, the struggles they faced to become themselves, and the failed revolution that drove them from their homeland. When they died, they left an unfillable hole in his heart.

Griffon's best clue to his parents' lives is in his father's journal, written from a jail cell while he awaited execution. Stained with blood, grief, and tears, these pages struggle to contain the love story of two artists on fire. With the journal in hand, Griffon hopes to pin down his relationship to these wonderful and strange people for whom time always seemed to be running out.

In Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman, he has created a story of family that is both brilliant and otherworldly. Featuring trans characters set in the far future, the story has almost fairytale quality to the narrative as it weaves back and forth between Griffon's time with his parents and their past lives. The story shows how much family means, especially found family and the healing power of love.

I really liked the way we saw both his parents’ pain but also Griffon's, how they all tried to rise above the pain of the past even as the weight of it would sometimes drag them under. It is a magnificent narrative that has themes of revolution and change, of transition and addiction, of mental health and healing. All of these ideas blend together to create a truly emotionally charged novel that is absorbing and compelling.

If you like stories about found family, trans characters and that are emotional, this is a powerful story that is brilliant and otherworldly. Art is a huge part of the story, as well, as it builds a connection between the characters and provides a compelling piece to the story. I loved all the aspects of the novel, the various elements and how they are tied together. I think other readers will too.

Rating: 5 out of 5 paintings ~~ Andrea Rittschof