Girls Girls Girls

By: Shoshana von Blanckensee

Narrated by: Rachel F. Hirsch, Shoshana von Blanckensee

A 2025 CALIBA Golden Poppy Awards Finalist

A PANTS POD BOOK CLUB PICK

One of ELLE's Best Queer Books of 2025

"Jam-packed with queer angst and queer joy . . . and a truly incredible amount of heart. I devoured this novel." —Kristen Arnett, New York Times bestselling author of Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One

"A teary-eyed love letter to the San Francisco that remains and to its establishments that are long-gone. But above all [Girls Girls Girls] tenderly tells the story of a vulnerable young queer person in an unfamiliar place, just trying to create a new version of home." —San Francisco Chronicle

It’s the summer of ’96 and best friends (and secret girlfriends) Hannah and Sam are driving across the country from Long Beach, New York, to the fabled queer paradise of San Francisco, free from the harsh gazes of their neighbors and the stifling demands of Hannah’s devout Orthodox Jewish mother. In San Francisco, they will finally be together as a real couple, out in the open, around other queer people . . . even if the move means leaving behind Hannah’s beloved Bubbe.

When the financial strains of West Coast living push the girls to start stripping at The Chez Paree—yet another secret Hannah must keep from her family—Hannah feels trapped. Sam wants her at the club, but Hannah hates stripping nearly as much as she hates disappointing Sam. Then Hannah meets Chris, an older butch lesbian, who is immediately taken with her. Desperate to stay in San Francisco and away from the leering men at the club, Hannah proposes an escort arrangement.

But as Hannah falls deeper into Chris’ world and Sam starts to meet new queer friends, a rift forms between them. Without Sam, who is Hannah? And what does San Francisco mean to Hannah alone—a space rich with queer possibility or an intimidating, unfamiliar place just as lonely as the one she’d left behind? An achingly tender and resonant story of survival, first love, and growing up queer in the '90s, Girls Girls Girls is a piercing exploration of the choices we make in the thrilling and often confounding search for ourselves and home.

I LOVE THIS BOOK

If you are a queer Jewish woman, I beg you to read this book. Hannah and her Bubbe are such deeply loveable characters. I felt seen and healed by this story.

Amazing immersive Story!

I absolutely adored this book from the first sentence! Masterful storytelling, characters and portrayal of the city in the 90s. The main character had an amazing, courageous coming of age voyage and I was right there with her. I didn’t want it to end!

I will listen to this again and again.

I love this so much. I listen to it virtually in one day best fictional book. I’ve read in a while. I loved it to pieces well written, and kept me wanting more.