FULL DISCLOSURE
Full Disclosure is Camryn's debut YA novel about a girl born HIV+, and how her previous attitude of acceptance toward her status shifts when she becomes sexually interested in someone for the first time.
Simone Garcia-Hampton is absolutely positive that having a crush is more dangerous than having HIV; after all, she’s got her viral load under control. Simone knows that her status isn’t a death sentence, as long as she remembers to take her medication and go to her doctor's appointments, she can live a long, healthy life. There’s just one problem: she wants to have sex. Badly.
She knows abstinence is the safest policy, she’s heard it almost every day of her life from her sweet and well-meaning Dads, and up until now, she’s been able to handle it herself, but Miles Austin has ruined that. He’s hot! He plays lacrosse! He asks Simone about her favorite plays because of how it lights her face up! What’s a horny (but responsible) teenage girl to do!?
Simone is already agonizing about how to tell Miles about her status, but she’s been burned before when she told people that she loved that she was positive—she even had to switch schools over it, leaving her boarding school when there was a huge public outcry from uneducated parents, not to mention a scarring shunning from the people she cared about most. She’s determined to keep her status a secret, but the cardinal rule of dating-while-positive is disclosure. Allowing herself to get close to Miles would be a gigantic risk.
Before she’s able to figure out what to do, Simone finds a threatening note left in her locker: I know you have HIV. You have until Thanksgiving to stop hanging out with Miles. Or everyone else will know, too.
AVAILABLE NOW IN HARDCOVER, PAPERBACK, AND AUDIO!
You will be able to find FULL DISCLOSURE in the following territories:
US / Knopf Books for Young Readers
UK / Penguin Random House UK
Italy / Il Castoro
Brazil / Verus
Sweden / Gilla Bocker
Portugal / Saida de Emergencia
Romania / Epica
Hungary / Maxim
France / Laffont
Russia / Bookmate
Praise:
Entertainment Weekly: “But perhaps the most remarkable thing Garrett achieves with Full Disclosure is the compassionate portrayal of people who are usually rendered invisible not only in Y.A but in life. And she manages to write a hell of a novel while doing it.”
Shondaland: “The YA novel of the year that everyone should be talking about.”
The Guardian: “Warm, funny and thoughtfully sex-positive, this is an impressive debut from a writer still in her teens.”
The Financial Times: “Simone is a hugely appealing and thoughtful narrator who’s also riven with adolescent doubts. A fine, bold debut, if jaw-dropping at times.”
The Irish Times: “What we have here is an upbeat and warm romance aimed at destigmatising the condition. It marks Garrett as a writer to watch.”
Today Show: “Despite grappling with heavy subject matter, it remains light and humorous while still encompassing real emotion.”
How did you get the idea for FULL DISCLOSURE?
I go through weird phases of obsession with different topics, like the science of IVF or the history of orphanages. A few years ago, I was really into international adoption, so I read a lot about Angelina Jolie. One of her kids was adopted from an orphanage where most of the kids were HIV positive. Her kid was the only one who didn’t have HIV.
I started wondering about how the adoption process for HIV positive children would be different, so I read a lot of adoption blogs written by parents who adopted positive children, watched documentaries on Netflix, and read articles online. I also had the help of my mom, who is a nurse and is used to answering weird questions.
Eventually, I started wondering what it would be like to be a horny teenager with HIV. I wanted to create a really confident, young woman who knew exactly what she wanted, especially regarding sex. That’s where Simone came in.
What would you want that reader to take away from your story?
I really hope that people learn more about HIV. While researching for this book, I learned so much, from how daily life changes for a positive person (not very much), to the history of the AIDS epidemic in this country. I hope that readers learn enough to disprove the stigma and realize that there are teenagers just like us who are positive. Because of our relatively recent medical achievements, HIV is no different than chronic illnesses like asthma or diabetes. Even though it’s such a manageable disease, the stigma is still so strong that it can be overwhelming, especially for a teenager.
Why is there so much sex in FULL DISCLOSURE? Do you think this sets a bad example for teenagers?
I wanted Simone to be able to have whatever she wanted. She’s such a strong and determined person. She knows what she wants and goes after it, even when she’s afraid. I thought she was a strong character in this way and “sets an example,” even though I don’t necessarily think that’s something characters have to do.
Teenage years are when people start to explore sexuality, at least in my experience. My friends and I spent our junior year talking about it all the time. We didn’t hear about sex in health class or from our parents, so we used Google and then talked out the kinks. We talked about wanting to have sex and not wanting to have it. We talked about who we would want to have sex with. We talked about how we would have sex. We asked questions. We talked about labels. “If I don’t want to have sex with a guy, am I a lesbian? If I don’t want to have sex at all, what does that make me?”
Part of the reason why we had so many questions is that we still were discovering ourselves, but it’s also because we didn’t have anyone to talk to but each other. My lunch table felt like a safe space to talk about everything that confused me about sexuality. I wanted to try to provide something like that for my readers.