Baby Teeth: A Novel

Meg Grehan’s Baby Teeth is a story of longing for love, life, and something deeper. Written in verse, the novel develops through the protagonist’s inner monologue, moving in motions through the highs and lows of her search for what she wants and needs. Immy and her roommates are creatures who have lived many human lives and are, in most senses of the word, monsters. They do their best to live peacefully with harbored thirst and memories that linger in whispers. When Immy falls in love with human Claudia, she spirals in and out of the bestial tendencies and confusion that come with eternal life, her self-restraint and denial manifesting in poetry that begs for forgiveness and understanding.

Vampire stories centered on the unfairness of eternal life and unrequited yearning are not exactly an innovation, but Grehan explore this story with a meek tenderness that feels fresh and exciting. Immy’s voice is unsure despite the centuries that must have made her, and she is fully aware of the contradictions that make up her character. She and her friends act as a tiny support group, falling into one another with an understanding that failure and pain are inevitable strands of life—in their case, the strands are cruelly infinite and harden with stale time.

With a voice like a newly cleaned mirror, Baby Teeth approaches pain and yearning with a humble but straightforward gaze, offering grace to the monsters that sit in all of our reflections.