You lose your virginity to a boy from your gender theory seminar, and the first person you tell is Ella.

Ella's with you at the party when you first kiss a girl.

And Ella takes you to the hospital the first time you're diagnosed.

Over the next few years you have a string of relationships and jobs, but you can always count on Ella to be there for you - until the drinking and the parties, the hospital visits and late-night calls, blur the lines of your friendship into something unbalanced and fragile, at risk of breaking altogether.

The worst part is you can see it coming. The worst part is you don't know how to stop.

Gender Theory is the dizzying debut from Madeline Docherty, an incisive, affecting novel about illness, finding your place, and how we care for those around us.