Help with paraphrasing? I need this right away plz

[Ker!]

What can I use for turned in this sentence

"Joel would have turned to Idabel, but she wanted to be a male."

[Tdol]

Without more context, it makes little sense to me.

[bhaisahab]

It makes no sense to me.

[TheParser]

What can I use for turned in this sentence

"Joel would have turned to Idabel, but she wanted to be a male."

NOT A TEACHER


(1) "Professor Google" told me that this line comes from a novel entitled Other Voices/ Other Rooms by the American author Truman Capote.

(a) It deals with what we delicately call "gender issues."

(2) Undoubtedly, some members are acquainted with the novel and can enlighten the thread starter and the rest of us.

(3) It is only a guess that "turn to" may mean "go to for help."

[JohnParis]

Even knowing the sentence's provenance, it still makes little sense to me.

John