True to the lived experience of a protest . . . Plum's contributions to this canon are often funny, and pleasantly odd . . . As Angela points out, the judicial system may not be able to comprehend the ungovernable parts of our bodies and minds, to hear those ticking clocks inside us-but a novel can.

New York Times Book Review

This inventive and compelling story centers on Angela, a state running champ who has dropped out (of running, college, the BS of life more generally) and decides to protest the criminalization of abortion with a hunger strike. Strikingly composed and delivered, Plum's latest punches high above its weight.

Ms. Magazine

State Champ is a post-Dobbs novel we're lucky to have, one that really wrestles with the place of abortion in an imperfect world. When an Instagram-ready anti-abortion protester named Janine shows up at the clinic, Angela accuses her of not living in the real world, the one where bodies get away from us, do things we don't want them to do. It's not the kind of book where someone like Angela has a chance at convincing someone like Janine. But it lets her try.

The Cut

Revelatory and impassioned . . . Life dwindles from Angela's politicized body but not from her purpose in this sharp, incisive, and galvanizing portrait of a woman exerting her choice.

Shelf Awareness

Darkly funny, in a made-you-snort sort of way . . . a short, tight novel that goes by quickly [and offers] solidarity; a look inside the brain of a less-than-perfect woman putting her body on the line to seek justice in the face of injustice. Sure, she's technically fictional-but in times of darkness, the liberatory power of imagination is important.

Jezebel, June Book Club Pick

An acrobatic, harrowing marathon of cut-to-the-quick prose, with a narrator who's ferocious, funny, and wise. State Champ churns with tremendous urgency that would be, and will be, vital in any era. Hilary Plum is a breathtaking talent.

Henry Hoke, author of OPEN THROAT