High School

By: Tegan Quin, Sara Quin

Narrated by: Tegan Quin, Sara Quin

"Tegan and Sara Quin’s joint memoir is perfect in audiobook form.... Knowing and loving Tegan and Sara the musicians will obviously make this listen extra special, but it’s by no means a prerequisite to entry. High School, very literally, is for everyone." (Paste, best audiobooks of 2019)

This program is read by the authors and features bonus interviews and rough recordings of Tegan and Sara's first songs, recorded on cassette tapes in the late '90s, and rediscovered 20 years later while writing High School.

From the iconic musicians Tegan and Sara comes a memoir about high school, detailing their first loves and first songs in a compelling look back at their humble beginnings.

High School is the revelatory and unique coming-of-age story of Sara and Tegan Quin, identical twins from Calgary, Alberta, who grew up at the height of grunge and rave culture in the '90s, well before they became the celebrated musicians and global LGBTQ icons we know today. While grappling with their identity and sexuality, often alone, they also faced academic meltdown, their parents’ divorce, and the looming pressure of what might come after high school. Written in alternating chapters from both Tegan's and Sara’s points of view, the book is a raw account of the drugs, alcohol, love, music, and friendship they explored in their formative years.

A transcendent story of first loves and first songs, High School captures the tangle of discordant and parallel memories of two sisters who grew up in distinct ways even as they lived just down the hall from each another. This is the origin story of Tegan and Sara.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 Tegan Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin (P)2019 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Tegan and Sara Quin’s joint memoir is perfect in audiobook form. Structured like a dynamic Young Adult novel, this high school-focused memoir is peppered with original recordings from the twins’ early days making music as queer teens in 1990s Calgary. In this way, High School is a wonderfully disorienting 4-D listening experience - the fourth dimension being time, as the listener is repeatedly shot back decades while the sisters’ memories dip in and out of their shared past. Knowing and loving Tegan and Sara the musicians will obviously make this listen extra special, but it’s by no means a prerequisite to entry. High School, very literally, is for everyone." (Paste)

“Complexly intimate, smartly crafted, and packing a subtle emotional wallop.... A quietly heroic origin story.” (Rolling Stone)

“Tegan and Sara are massively gifted songwriters, so this genius memoir shouldn’t have shocked me like it did. There’s simply nothing like it; it’s completely original, utterly gripping, and gorgeously written. High School is a fresh, beautiful, and fearlessly powerful coming-of-age memoir.” (Augusten Burroughs, New York Times best-selling author of Running with Scissors and Toil & Trouble)

Incredible

I have read a book that mirrored so much of my experiences, anxieties, and high school vibe as much as this book. It was refreshing to see such and honest portrayal of high school, coming out, and everything that goes with it. Loved the book. love the music.

LOVE.

This will stick with you for a while. The demo songs and interview at the end complete the experience, along with the new record. Listening to little TnS singing such amazing songs left me speechless.

Amazing book

I have been a fan for over 15 years. I’ve been to a ton of shows, I’ve heard some of the stories but to hear the full story and to put the songs to the story was the icing on the cake. I was also a 90s high school lesbian my coming out story was emotional and similar, even down to the same nirvana and Courtney love poster! These 2 have been a huge part of my life and queer story. Thanks so much.

Beautiful and Relatable

For starters, Tegan and Sara’s voices are so incredibly captivating as they tell the private moments of their own history. It feels like a friend having a chat with you and allowing themselves to be vulnerable and share their story. I found this book to be intriguing, enlightening, and inspiring, all the while laughing, crying, and singing along. So glad I found this read!

An amazing experience

I'm not usually a fan of audiobooks unless I'm driving, but hearing this book read by Tegan and Sara, along with the recordings and demos, was a very profound experience that definitely changed the way the book felt. The emotions were clear, and the book itself is beautiful. Hearing the history and backstory to music I've loved for over a decade gives it new meaning.

A special experience for T & S fans

Buy and listen to the audiobook first then buy the hardcover to get it signed and look at the pictures. The audio clips and interviews that are included in this audiobook make the book special. To hear the ladies talk about those times in their own voices and to hear the recordings of them recorded during high school are a gift.

amazing

I wish there was more. I could listen to this over and over. You can obviously tell Tegan and Sarah were meant to be stars!

This book is a gift

I remember picking up This Business of Art from the Borders store where I worked when I was 17 and playing it on repeat in my best friend's car for months. This book really brought back so much nostalgia for my early T&S fandom, for my messy, dramatic, beautiful teenage years, and for the 90's in general. Hearing Sara describe the slow process of coming to the realization that she was gay, I'm reminded of the dread that washed over me when I was fourteen and let myself think those words for the first time, knowing instantly that they were true. I feel like queer people tend to skip over this part of our lives and the resulting internalized homophobia that we often deal with as adults, since it can be so painful to talk about. I'm grateful for their vulnerability and candor. They created something that I think a lot of people will be able to recognize themselves in, but especially those of us that grew up and came out in the 90's.

An important read

"High School" is an important read whether you identify as LGBTQ or just want to understand a little more. Tegan and Sara tell such intimate​, personal stories, yet the overall experience is still relatable. They tell stories about body image, fitting in, coping with your feelings and what it's like to realize you're queer, and many stories that most would be too afraid to share. This is the book we all needed in high school.

Amazing.

I've been a fan since my teens, and it was really nice to hear their story and hear their early recordings.