Rush: Memoir of a Gay Sorority Girl is an emotional roller coaster of a story about a shy girl from Texas who, in her quest for love and belonging, struggles with her sexual orientation and gender expression within the confines of sorority life at a Midwestern university.

Growing up in the Bible Belt playing “Smear the Queer,” Kristin Griffith had never met a gay person when she left home for university in St. Louis. When her college ex-boyfriend came out to her, she soon realized that she too might be gay. “No one can say I didn’t try to be straight,” she writes.

This memoir offers an exclusive peek into sorority and fraternity culture: rushing, pledging, initiation, partying, drinking, hooking up—and homophobia. Kristin lets us intimately witness her coming-out journey: drama with guys, fumbles with girls, romance with a female teacher; angst from keeping secrets; coming out in the student newspaper; and the confidence of being out, along with the pain of being rejected for it. It’s about falling down and standing tall, as we figure out who we are, and who we want to be. It’s about the universal desire to be seen, understood, and accepted as our truest self.

Rush: Memoir of a Gay Sorority Girl is currently being adapted into a feature film.