Honeybee

Set in contemporary Perth, Western Australia, the novel opens with 14-year-old Sam Watson standing on the wrong side of the railing on the Clayton Road overpass, preparing to jump. At the far end of the bridge, an old man named Vic stands on the outside of the same railing. When Sam begins to fall, Vic catches Sam by the arm and pulls them both to safety. Vic explains he came because his dog died; he hated the dog but had kept it alive as a promise to his late wife, Edie. Sam notices a garden hose on the back seat of Vic's car and realizes Vic had been attempting suicide himself. After Vic drops Sam at a train station, Sam wanders the city until a man named Neil lures Sam into his car and sexually assaults Sam. Sam steals Neil's expensive watch. The next night, Sam rides a stolen bicycle back to the overpass, worried Vic may have returned. Vic arrives, not to attempt suicide but because he felt guilty about not ensuring Sam's safety. Sam falls asleep in Vic's car.

Sam wakes in Vic's house. After asking Vic about his favorite meal, Sam walks to a nearby supermarket to steal ingredients and meets Aggie Meemeduma, a friendly girl Sam's age who lives nearby. Sam cooks a lamb roast and trifle. Over brandy Vic and Edie had saved for their 50th anniversary, Vic explains that losing Edie meant losing his own life. He offers Sam a place to stay on one condition: Sam cannot die there.

Flashbacks reveal Sam's early life. Sam's mother, Sarah, was 19 and alone when Sam was born, cut off by her strict parents. She raised Sam in precarious circumstances, stealing food and moving between apartments. Sam discovered Julia Child's cooking show on a stolen iPad and taught themselves to cook. As a small child, Sam wore Sarah's clothes and felt at ease doing so. A school counselor asked Sam if they were a boy or a girl; Sam said they were just themselves but, sensing that being a girl was considered shameful, claimed to be a boy. One night Sam put on Sarah's dress and lipstick; Sarah caught Sam and reacted with fury. Sam began dressing up in secret. Later, Sam found a documentary called Paris Is Burning featuring Venus Xtravaganza, a transgender performer, and searched "can a girl be born as a boy?" Puberty intensified Sam's distress over their changing body, and Sam began burning their skin with a lighter.

When Sam was 11, Sarah met Steve, a boilermaker who grew frustrated with Sam's perceived softness and forbade Sarah from using her pet name for Sam, "Honeybee." After an insurance fraud scheme collapsed, Steve moved the family to a rundown house in Hamilton Hill. He began collecting debts for drug dealers and controlled Sarah through her addiction to Fentanyl, a powerful opioid painkiller. When Steve caught Sam dressed up one night, he attacked, cutting Sam's hair with shears and spitting on Sam. Sarah intervened but told Sam that Steve was "trying to help." Sam climbed out the window and walked to the overpass.

In the present, Sam settles into Vic's house and discovers Vic's prized 1953 Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle, a family heirloom. Vic reacts with shock when Sam tries on Edie's clothes but soon apologizes, giving Sam permission to wear whatever they like. Sam grows close to Aggie, the first person to call Sam a friend. Vic takes Sam to a drag night at a city bar called The Gavel. A drag queen named Fella Fitzgerald sneaks Sam inside through the back. Fella is a registered nurse whose real name is Peter. The queens name Sam "Honeybee," and Sam is pulled on stage to perform, feeling belonging for the first time. Afterward, two men attack Sam on the street after realizing Sam was assigned male at birth. Peter rescues Sam, stitches Sam's head wound, and shares his own story of being rejected by his Jehovah's Witness parents.

Sarah files a missing persons report, and police return Sam to Steve's house. The officers focus on whether Vic had been sexually abusing Sam, prompted by Mrs Boyd, a suspicious neighbor of Vic's, who had made repeated reports about an older man living with a teenage boy. Back under Steve's control, Sam tries to remake themselves in a masculine mold, training with weights and participating in Steve's debt-collection operations. When Aggie alerts Sam via Instagram that Vic has been hospitalized, Sam rushes to the hospital. Vic is gravely ill and asks to die at home. Sam obtains Fentanyl from Whippy, Steve's dealer associate, by trading Neil's stolen watch. During the exchange, Whippy reveals that Sarah is pregnant. Peter, working as a nurse at the hospital, arranges Vic's discharge.

In Edie's bedroom, Vic lays out her white nightgown on her side of the bed. Sam offers to die alongside Vic, but Vic refuses and makes Sam promise to keep living as their true self. Vic confesses a lifelong secret: During the Vietnam War, Vic himself accidentally shot and killed a young Vietnamese girl, not the soldier he blamed. While Sam is not watching, Vic swallows all 12 Fentanyl pills. His death is prolonged and distressing. Sam holds Vic's hand throughout, then walks to the overpass, drops the pill packaging over the rail, and reflects on how unburdened Vic seemed after sharing his secret.

This realization directs Sam to Aggie. On Christmas Eve, Sam takes Sarah to a carol concert in Fremantle while Steve carries out a planned break-in at the home of a man named Rosso. Sam has already called Detective Buchanan from a payphone, using Whippy's real name, Ricky Wragg, to report the robbery and hidden firearms. Steve and his brother Mark are arrested. Sarah sends furious texts accusing Sam of betrayal.

Sam hides at Vic's house until Peter finds Sam severely dehydrated. Peter reveals that Vic left everything to Sam in his will: the house, savings, and possessions. Peter connects Sam with Diane, a psychologist who is herself a transgender woman. Over weeks of therapy, Sam opens up about identity and self-harm. Diane explains that puberty blockers can halt the bodily changes causing Sam distress, but parental consent is required. Sam reconnects with Aggie, arriving at her door in a sundress and revealing the truth about being transgender. Aggie is immediately accepting. The Meemeduma family enrolls Sam at the Perth Culinary Institute, where Chef Bob recognizes Sam's talent but must dismiss Sam upon discovering Sam is only 14. Chef Bob recommends Sam to Jean-Philippe Vollard, head chef at one of the country's finest restaurants.

Vic had secretly arranged the sale of the Black Shadow to Len Oakes, a vintage motorcycle collector, for 135,000 dollars. During this period, Steve, out on bail, ambushes Sam at Vic's house, choking Sam and demanding to know what Sam told police. Mrs Boyd interrupts, having recorded Steve's license plate, and Steve flees. Months later, Sarah contacts Sam, having learned from court documents that the police informant was Whippy, not Sam. At Sarah's apartment, Sarah confesses that when Sam was an infant, she placed Sam in a plastic bag intending to stage a cot death, then ran back to find baby Sam had torn a hole in the bag. Sam tells Sarah the truth about being transgender and asks for consent for treatment. Sarah hesitates, then agrees. Sam presents a name-change form: Victoria Edith Watson, honoring Vic and Edie. Sarah signs it.

The novel closes with Victoria leaving her mother's apartment, carrying plans for a recording session for Peter, a first day at The Blue Goose restaurant, and a memorial for Vic. Sarah offers the old honeybee costume from Sam's childhood, but Victoria tells her to keep it. Sam Watson is dead. Victoria has chosen her own name and her own beginning.