Tegan Quin's debut novel explores Christmas divided: twins, a rock-star dad, and family chaos
The Tegan and Sara singer steps solo into middle-grade fiction with Merry Christmess, a story about identical twins caught between parents who hate and love the holidays.
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Tegan Quin has written a middle-grade novel about the particular pain of a divided Christmas—a rare solo outing for the Tegan and Sara musician and author.
Merry Christmess, the first book in what will be at least a two-book series, follows 10-year-old identical twins Stevie and Jordan Clementine growing up in small-town Saskatchewan. Their father, a rock star who left when they were young, returns each Christmas. Their mother runs a community centre and is too busy during the holidays to put much effort into her own family's celebrations. Stevie hatches a plan with her reluctant sister to remind their parents about their old love of the holidays, hoping to get the whole family together for Christmas—which spirals into chaos.
"Like many children of divorced parents, indie-pop duo Tegan and Sara Quin would split their time between mom and dad at Christmas when growing up in Calgary," Quin said in an interview. "We'd spend Christmas Eve with my dad and Christmas with my mom and that was always really hard. I hated that."
While the Clementines' story isn't directly autobiographical, Quin drew from her own experience. The twins are loosely based on portions of her and her sister Sara's lives: their parents met in high school, got pregnant, married quickly, and divorced but co-parented well. Quin's father wasn't a rock star but they only saw him on weekends; her mother did run a community centre briefly. "I think there is a little bit both of us in both characters," Quin said. "I definitely think on paper I'm more of the extrovert at times. I think there is a more refined, patient, more intentional part of Jordan that's based on Sara and more of the act-before-you-think, sloppy-silly parts of Stevie that are based on me."
Quin's career has been defined by her twin identity over three decades and 10 albums with Sara, bringing the duo numerous Juno wins, Grammy nominations, and a 2015 Oscar nod. The Tegan and Sara empire has expanded to include an autobiographical television series based on their 2019 memoir High School, which traced their origin story as queer teens in mid-1990s Calgary. The success of that book led the sisters to pen graphic-novel prequels, Junior High and Crush, aimed at eight- to 12-year-olds. Merry Christmess continues Quin's shift into middle-grade fiction.
The details
What is Tegan Quin's debut novel called?
'Merry Christmess' is Tegan Quin's debut novel, the first book in what will be at least a two-book series.
Who are the main characters?
The main characters are 10-year-old identical twins Stevie and Jordan Clementine, who grow up in small-town Saskatchewan with a rock-star father who left when they were young and a mother who runs a community centre.
What inspired the book?
Tegan Quin drew from her own experience of splitting Christmas between her divorced parents growing up in Calgary, though the Clementines' story is not directly autobiographical.
