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OLD ENOUGH

Haley Jakobson

A witty, warm, and accessible debut novel that explores serious themes, balancing heavy moments with humor and levity. It is a reckoning with toxic friendship and sexual assault but also a celebration of community and healing, with elements of a queer rom-com.

Savannah "Sav" Henry is almost the person she wants to be, or at least she's getting closer. It's the second semester of her sophomore year. She's finally come out as bisexual, is making friends with the other Queers in her dorm, and has just about recovered from her first queer "situationship." She is cautiously optimistic that her life is about to begin.

But when she learns that Izzie, her best friend from childhood has gotten engaged, Sav faces a crisis of confidence. Things with Izzie haven't been the same since what happened between Sav and Izzie's older brother when they were 16. Now, with the wedding around the corner, Sav is forced to reckon with trauma she thought she could put behind here. On top of it all, Sav can't stop thinking about Wes from her Gender Studies class - sweet, funny Wes, with their long eyelashes and green backpack. There's something different here - with Wes and her new friends (who delight in teasing her about this face-burning crush); it feels terrifyingly like they might truly see her in a way no one has before.

With a singularly funny, heartfelt voice, OLD ENOUGH explores queer love, community, and what it means to be a sexual assault survivor. Haley Jakobson has written a love letter to friendship and an honest depiction of what finding your people can feel like - for better or worse.

Haley Jakobson (she/her) is a bisexual writer living in Brooklyn, New York. In her work she explores queerness, mental health, and trauma. Haley loves bodega sandwiches (no cheese), writing on the subway, and will change your mind about Geminis. OLD ENOUGH is her debut.

Available products
Book Published 2023-06-20 by Dutton Books
Book Published 2023-06-20 by Dutton Books

Comments

Jakobson lands the intensity of college friendships and sexual relationships with exquisite depictions of Sav and her cohort... This writer shows plenty of promise. Read more...

Both heartfelt and heart-wrenching, Jakobson explores finding your chosen family, falling in love, and facing the past in this unmissable debut.

Deeply immersive, thought provoking, and engaging.

Through 'Old Enough,"' Jakobson offers a guiding hand to her readers. If you're going through this mess, you're not alone, she seems to say, and if you've already survived, you'll understand. Read more...

Author's Essay: Writers Don't Need to Suffer to Make Art Read more...

Haley Jakobson's Old Enough is an absolute snack. Full of humor and heartache, Jakobson makes the hard thing look easy: crafting a novel that explores the messy way we navigate who we were and who we're becoming with tenderness and grace. Part campus novel, part coming of age story, Old Enough is about the secrets we keep from others (and ourselves) and how community can transform our lives. A novel for anyone who's lost a friend, found themselves, and survived their twenties, Old Enough is a gem.

NYLON caught up with Jakobson ahead of her novel's release to chat about the tensions that come with finding yourself, why she views Sav as a younger sister, and what she hopes readers take away from Old Enough. Read more...

Haley Jakobson talked to Teen Vogue about queer representation in her self-proclaimed "big bisexual novel." Read more...

Carolina chats with Haley about all things identity: finding ourselves while we're still "hurtling towards the person we're becoming," utilizing language and harnessing stories to explore our many-faceted, intersectional selves, writing and using art and words to explore the stickier parts of reality. Read more...

Haley Jakobson's Old Enough evokes the stormy early years of college with such tenderness and honesty I was transported right back to campus. This pitch-perfect story about queer coming-of-age is brilliantly observed, wildly funny, and full of insights into the way the past can snake through the present - no matter how hard we try to escape. I loved every word and can't wait for what Jakobson writes next.

This poignant rendering of one young woman's journey out of denial and shame into a budding self-love is essential reading. Read more...

As always, Haley Jakobson's writing pulls you in and moves something within you already at the very first sentence. I truly loved this book. Read it!

Jakobson's characters are a delight, their dialogue intoxicating, their mistakes and attempts at reconciliation beautiful to watch. Readers will down this breathless debut in one sitting, sending gentle prayers up to their 20-year-old selves.

If you're looking for a group of cool queer friends, look no further than Old Enough. These characters jump off the page, transporting us into an immersive and heartwarming love story for a new era. Haley Jakobson shows us the power of chosen family, the nuances of bisexuality, and the strength it takes to overcome your past in service of your future.

Author's essay: 21 things to know about coming out at college Read more...

[Jakobson] gives Gen Z the queer coming of age novel it needs in the era of both social media and social anxiety.

A debut novel "as astute, funny, and loving as your best friend from college"* about a young bisexual woman who is pulled between a new sense of community and loyalty to a friendship she's outgrown.

Haley Jakobson's debut novel, Old Enough, is an entertaining and quietly moving narrative about friendship, sexual assault, and remembering that what we owe ourselves comes before what we owe anyone else.