True Biz

True Biz, an ASL expression that means “seriously” or “real-talk,” is the title of Sara Nović’s coming-of-age novel published in 2022 by Penguin Random House. This sophomore novel was named one of the best books of the year by NPR, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist. Notably, Academy Award-winning actress Reese Witherspoon selected it for Reese’s Book Club, and The New York Times praised it as “moving, fast-paced, and spirited,” as well as “skillfully educational.” The book is currently being adapted for a television series starring Millicent Simmonds, a Deaf actor who is best known for her role in John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place film series. Simmonds will also serve as an executive producer on the project.

Plot Summary

Set in the fictional town of Colson, Ohio, the novel follows Charlie Serrano, a Deaf girl with newly divorced parents. Though the novel shifts points of view throughout, moving from one major character to another, Charlie is its central protagonist. The novel also includes inserted diagrams and informational texts regarding the conventions of ASL and facts about Deaf culture, history, and activism, both as related to the Deaf community and otherwise. Charlie experiences a series of significant life changes due to her parents’ separation. She was always enrolled in a mainstream educational setting, but under her father’s custody, Charlie is enrolled in sign language classes and River Valley School for the Deaf, where she will board. After attending her first ASL class with her father, Charlie quickly realizes that adjusting to her new life will not be easy. Her suspicions are proven true, as she arrives at River Valley overwhelmed by all that she needs to learn about ASL and Deaf history and culture, topics to which she was never exposed. One of the most enduring issues in Charlie’s life is her disdain for her cochlear implant, a device that enables her to perceive sound. This device has been faulty for several years—causing her daily physical discomfort—and is also a symbol of her complicated relationship with her mother, who insisted on its implantation when Charlie was a small child. Charlie’s already distant relationship with her mother grows worse over time, particularly as she begins learning sign language, to which her mother was always opposed. Charlie’s lasting issues with both her mother and her cochlear implant reach a climax when she suffers a terrible fainting spell caused by her implant, and it is promptly removed. When her mother insists that Charlie be reimplanted, despite the danger posed by her last implant, Charlie becomes determined to fight for the right to control her own body. This newfound defiance is the direct result of her education at River Valley, where she finally finds community. With Charlie’s Deaf education and immersion into the Deaf community comes liberation; these changes enable her to realize that she had very little influence over the evolution of her own life. Invigorated both by what she learns and by her antiestablishment friend Slash (an old fling from her last school), Charlie begins to take matters into her own hands.

Like Charlie, February, the headmistress of River Valley School, is experiencing a major life change at the novel’s outset: She takes in her Deaf mother, who has dementia. On top of her mother’s worsening condition, February must deal with the news that River Valley will be shutting down, an event that means losing both her school-owned house and her job. More importantly, the news is especially worrying because it will mean sending her students to hearing schools, a reality that February is not ready to face. Unable to contend with the school’s closure, she decides to keep the news from her wife, Mel, until she feels the time is right. Over time, February’s stress only worsens; she and Mel decide to place her mother in a nursing home, and her mother eventually dies. Mel does not become privy to the news of the school’s closure until a realtor arrives at the house to take photos for the listing. Seeing that Mel is infuriated about being uninformed, February retreats to Old Quarters, a room at River Valley, to give her space before they talk. Seemingly unable to catch a break, February discovers at Old Quarters that three of her students—Austin, Eliot, and Charlie—are missing.

Also central to the novel is Austin Workman, a fifth-generation Deaf person in a family that is proud of its Deaf heritage. Unlike Charlie, Austin grows up deeply immersed in the Deaf community, a privilege that enables him to develop into a confident, self-assured young man. February assigned Austin to act as a tour guide and mentor for Charlie. Upon meeting her, Austin develops a romantic interest in her, a feeling that she reciprocates. Like Charlie and February, Austin is dealing with a significant life change; his mother is expecting a baby, and this forthcoming reality is a source of major anxiety. When the baby arrives and is hearing, Austin cannot help but feel a pang of disappointment that transforms into resentment when he discovers how well his father, who is also hearing, takes the news. Though things seem to improve when it is revealed that baby Skylar is indeed deaf, the news is soured by the couple’s announcement that they are considering fitting Skylar with a cochlear implant. A proud Deaf family, Austin and his grandparents are deeply offended by the news. They view implants as a tool to appeal to hearing people.

Each dealing with the turmoil of their families, Charlie and Austin find solace in each other and grow closer as the novel progresses; they eventually have sex in Austin’s room. Afterward, when Eliot returns to the room, Austin reveals that River Valley will be shut down at the end of the year. Shocked and frustrated by the news, Charlie hatches a plan to stage a protest inspired by the Deaf President Now protests that she learns about in her history class. With Austin and Eliot, Charlie leads the charge to join forces with Slash and his punk band to try to blow up a factory that manufactures components for cochlear implants and other prosthetics in Colson. Though the mission fails when February and Wanda eventually discover them, Slash and his crew carry it out with another River Valley teacher a week later. Austin and Eliot wake up to this news at the end of the novel and carefully craft a text message to inform Charlie, not wanting to give the authorities any reason to trace the event back to their group. The message they send reads as follows: Silence is golden.