All She Wrote Books Presents: Author Rylan Hynes

Join All She Wrote Books on Tuesday, August 25th at 6:30pm, as we welcome author Rylan Hynes to celebrate the release of their novel — Grafting! A luminous debut novel about second chances, forbidden love, and the courage to cultivate beauty in unforgiving soil.

This book launch event will include a moderated discussion with author Nina MacLaughlin, an audience Q&A, and a signing by Rylan!

"Inclusivity" isn't just a buzzword to us. We make every effort to ensure our space and events are accessible to and for everyone. If you or someone in your party needs accommodations, please email us at [email protected].

About Grafting

When Eben Turner returns to his family's apple orchard in rural Maine after his parents' death, he faces more than just the weight of inheritance—he confronts the love he left behind. A decade has passed since he and Chris Hartley, the Methodist minister's son, were torn apart in their final year of high school, their secret relationship severed by the forces of faith and small-town judgment. Now, as adults navigating the crossroads of identity and belonging, they must reckon with both their buried past and an uncertain future.

Set against the Edenic beauty of New England, Grafting unfolds through dual perspectives in a lyrical narrative that mirrors the delicate art of joining two trees to create something stronger. As Eben and Chris work to understand how they came to be parted, they discover that healing requires more than forgiveness—it demands the courage to cultivate love in hostile ground.

This exquisite debut explores the cost of forbidden desire and the resilience required to claim one's authentic self. With prose as rooted and enduring as the heritage apple trees that anchor the story, Grafting asks whether two people can truly come home to each other after being forced apart by the very communities that shaped them.

A voice-driven and unforgettable tale of queer love and rural identity, Grafting will resonate with readers who were moved by the sweeping emotion of Brokeback Mountain, the luminous prose of Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, and stories that find the sacred in the profane, the universal in the deeply personal.

About the Authors

Rylan Hynes is a trans author and artist. An alum of the Tin House Writers Workshop and a Maine Literary Award Winner, their work has been supported by the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance and Monson Arts. Currently Hynes serves on the Community Advisory Board for the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, is a guest editor for Foglifter, and is the Communications & Editorial Director at The Telling Room, a nationally recognized youth-serving creative writing nonprofit based in Portland, Maine. They live with their husband in central Maine with far too many heritage apple trees.

Nina MacLaughlin is the award-winning author of Wake, Siren as well as Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice. Her most recent book is the monograph Burning in the Eyes of the Maker. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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