This impressive first book effortlessly dances across time, beginning with the opening scene of Scott hunched over the computer, studying Ancestry.com. Despite growing up in a strict home while wrestling with his own queer identity and braving time in a mental hospital, sex work, and addiction, Scott never wavers. His courage to continue his quest for belonging is the beam of inspiration that makes this memoir intimate, comforting, and thought-provoking. — Abby McCabe, Booklist

Jesse Scott’s debut memoir, You Can’t Get Rid of Me, is Augusten Burroughs’ Running with Scissors, with a touch of Scotty Bowers’ Full Service. Scott’s story of growing up a gay boy in the 1960s and 1970s, adopted by evangelical parents who committed him to an adult psychiatric institution, is both harrowing and triumphant. From surviving a pedophile foster dad, to becoming a gay escort in Hollywood, to eventually finding his birth family and Native American roots, Scott’s memoir is an inspiration to every queer kid forced to pretend to be someone else to survive. You’ll be cheering for Jesse by the end.

—Amber Fraley, author of Kansas GenExistential 

The authors are doing a book tour, will be presenting at the Tucson Book Festival in 2026, and are available for interviews.