The Miseducation of Cameron Post

Written by Emily M. Danforth and published in 2012, The Miseducation of Cameron Post depicts lesbian teen Cameron Post’s coming of age in Miles City, Montana. The book, which comprises three parts—“Summer 1989,” “High School 1991-1992,” and “God’s Promise 1992-1993”—explores themes of homosexuality, grief, and religion. Danforth, who grew up in Miles City, draws from her own experiences of “growing up gay in the 1990s.” In 2018, LGBTQ culture advocate Desiree Akhavan directed the YA fiction novel’s feature-length film adaptation, and the film subsequently won a Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize.

Before her parents’ death at Quake Lake in the summer of 1989, Cameron Post is just another pre-teen figuring out her identity in the small, rural town of Miles City, Montana. In July of 1989, Cameron and her best friend Irene Slauson kiss for the first time. While at Irene’s house for a sleepover, Cameron learns her parents have died in a car accident. Before long, Cameron’s quirky grandmother and religious aunt Ruth move in to care for her. Cameron distances herself from Irene, believing that their kiss somehow caused the car crash. Irene’s family strikes it rich when they find dinosaur fossils on their ranch property, and Irene attends a fancy East Coast boarding school. 

After Cameron’s parents’ passing, Margo Keenan, a semi-pro tennis player who grew up with Cameron’s mother and who also survived the Montana-Yellowstone earthquake, pays Cameron a visit. Cameron notes and admires Margo’s lack of adherence to gender norms. Margo invites Cameron to dinner and encourages Cameron to contact her if she needs anything.

Cameron moves into adolescence and befriends a boy, the wisecracking Jamie. As Cameron gets older, her attraction to girls grows. She becomes friendly with Lindsey Lloyd, a fellow swim champion from Seattle who lives with her Montana-based father during the summer. In the summer of 1991, Lindsey returns visibly changed, complete with short, bleached hair and piercings. She prompts Cameron to confess her same-sex attraction. One night, while the girls explore an abandoned hospital with Jamie and a group of other boys, Cameron and Lindsey sneak off to share their first kiss. They continue their romantic involvement for the rest of the summer and keep up a letter correspondence afterwards. Lindsey takes it upon herself to be Cameron’s guide through lesbian culture, mailing Cameron books and films that center on lesbian life. 

While at Gates of Praise, a new conservative church that Ruth insists they attend, Cameron meets Coley Taylor, a beautiful girl from a prominent ranching family. The two become fast friends. Coley persuades Cameron to ask Jamie to prom, and the pair double date with Coley’s steady boyfriend Brett. Coley represents the ideal all-American girl. Although Cameron’s feelings for Coley grow, she harbors no illusions that Coley will reciprocate. At prom, Jamie confronts Cameron about her crush on another girl. Cameron grows upset, and capitalizing on Cameron’s sexual confusion, Jamie requests that Cameron try dating him. Cameron and Jamie have a brief, informal relationship that ends at the Miles City Bucking Horse Sale, a two-day traditional summer festival in the town, when it becomes clear to Jamie that Cameron continues to have feelings for Coley.

With Brett out of town and Jamie out of the picture, Cameron and Coley spend the rest of Bucking Horse’s second day relaxing at Coley’s ranch. While feeding Coley’s family’s cattle, Coley encourages Cameron to kiss her. The pair shares a kiss that instigates a summer-long fling. Towards the end of summer, Coley’s brother Ty drunkenly interrupts Coley and Cameron having sex for the first time. Although Ty does not discover Coley and Cameron’s secret, Coley makes clear her disgust and shame around her attraction to Cameron. 

Soon after the interruption, Cameron finds out that Coley has confessed to their affair. Ruth, Ruth’s fiancé Ray, and Gates of Praise Pastor Crawford stage an intervention to address Cameron’s lesbianism and perceived corruption of Coley’s innocence. Ruth responds by sending Cameron to God’s Promise, a residential school for teens with homosexual tendencies led by the charismatic and young Reverend Rick Roneous and his strict British aunt Lydia March.

While at Promise, Cameron meets fellow faith skeptics Jane Fonda and Adam Red Eagle. The trio quickly form a bond over their mistrust of the God’s Promise methodology. They receive confirmation of heir skepticism when Mark, the son of a prominent preacher, severely self-mutilates himself. The program’s inability to rid Mark of his homosexual desire—even though he has fervently followed the God’s Promise teachings—motivates him to give up. Consequently, Cameron decides to escape God’s Promise. Jane and Adam pledge to join her. 

While Cameron, Jane, and Adam plan to flee God’s Promise via Quake Lake, Grandma Post informs Cameron that Aunt Ruth is currently undergoing radiation therapy for cancerous lumps. Eventually, Cameron’s grandmother updates Cameron on the therapy’s success. During an erotic dream, Cameron’s pious roommate Erin awakens Cameron and seduces her. The weight of their encounter looms as Cameron, Jane, and Adam escape.

The trio hikes their way to Quake Lake. Cameron feels compelled to enter the lake. As she wades into the lake, lit candle in hand, Cameron speaks openly to her dead parents. She gains a sense of resolution by declaring her enduring love for them and her determination to remember them the way she wants to. The book ends on a hopeful note, with Cameron, Jane, and Adam’s futures ahead of them.