Commitment Hour

About “Commitment Hour”

Commitment Hour is a science fiction novel by Canadian author James Alan Gardner, published in 1998. Set in Gardner's "League of Peoples" universe, the story takes place in the isolated village of Tober Cove, which resembles a seventeenth-century fishing village. The village has a unique custom: everyone under the age of 21 changes gender each year. At twenty-one, residents must choose a permanent gender identity—male, female, or hermaphrodite—during a ceremony called Commitment Hour. The novel follows the day before the main character's commitment. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.)