Cristina Boncea

After becoming the subjects of a study on Octopussy, the condition discovered by their uncle, twins Becks and Hyena are forced to part ways. This time, Becks leaves home to attend high school in England. For her, however, school is little more than an excuse to experiment as much as possible – from uninhibited sex to love and friendship – all of it far from home, from Hyena, and from her rather… unusual family.

Hated by her new circle of classmates, eventually accepted for who she is, and falling in love with the young Natty, Becks tries to find clear answers to the seemingly inexplicable questions that have brought her to this point in her life. What is she supposed to do? What is normal and what isn’t? Where are the boundaries? What is the truth? Can it ever be known? And at what cost?

“After sparking heated controversy with her debut novel, Octopussy, Cristina Boncea was not content to stand on the sidelines and watch. Instead, she took the story further in her already distinctive, uncompromising style: Becks merge la școală is even bolder, even more shocking to hypocrites, with humour and a message that reveal themselves with every page.

In Cristina’s novels, you will find nothing superficial, easy, or readily accessible to everyone. Quite the opposite – you will find the exceptions, the outcasts, those who are different, those who refuse to fit into prescribed moulds. Ultimately, these books are about freedom. The kind of freedom you will never find by listening to others. These are not simply books for teenagers; they are for anyone who believes literature should tell you truths rather than comfort you with convenient lies.” – Cristina Nemerovschi

From the original 2016 back-cover blurb, translated from Romanian.

Academic reception

• Becks merge la școală was discussed in Ramona Dima’s academic study “Queer Romanian Literature: A Selection of Gay and Lesbian Characters from the 20th Century to the Present”, published in the peer-reviewed journal lambda nordica in 2018. The study examines the construction of queer characters and representations of non-normative sexualities in Romanian literature, from twentieth-century works to contemporary writing, including Boncea’s fiction.