Bigender Teen Takes on the World: A Review of Somebody Told Me

Seventeen-year-old Aleks/Alexis Yagoda is living in the most uncomfortable situation imaginable, one they wanted in order to hide out from a past sexual assault with ongoing ramifications. Staying in the parish house with their Uncle Bryan, a former Episcopal priest turned Catholic, and his wife, Aunt Anne Marie (because Uncle Bryan was allowed to remain married after converting), they must present as a girl – Alexis – at all times as part of the ground rules. But each day, they don’t know if they’ll wake up identifying as Alexis or Aleks, or change in the middle of the day, and every night, former boyfriend Lee, who played a role in the assault during a cosplaying panel, sends gaslighting emails.

Alternating between Aleks and Alexis, the protagonist hears confessions through the heating vent and decides that helping other people with problems will take their mind off theirs. At first this is gratifying, and they make friends with the young people who hang out at the church –nun Sister Bernadette, priest-in-training Deacon Jamison, and 18-year-old volunteer Dima, who is also considering the priesthood. But then, a horrific confession of child sexual abuse comes through the vent, and Aleks/Alexis has to figure out how far they will go to find the culprit and set things right.

Mia Siegert’s second YA novel is an inside portrait of a teenager who experiences life as both female and male. Despite having supportive parents, Aleks/Alexis struggles with self-image as an “ugly girl” and a “beautiful boy,” with the former leaving them verbally assaulted and the latter physically exploited. Healing from the trauma requires accepting and affirming both sides of their identity in a healthy way. While their aunt and uncle are an odd refuge, the experiences of Sister Bernadette, Deacon Jamison, and Dima offer models of different kinds of queer identity, as well as of personal resilience and social action. Somebody Told Me is a gripping detective story with a fresh perspective on faith and religion as well as what it means to be Aleks, Alexis, “no one,” and “us.”