by Lydia Millet
First published 2026
Mara stares at the police tape, trying to process what happened to Claire. The killing makes no sense. Nothing about Claire's death adds up, and Mara can barely function as she and her friend Jen stumble through the aftermath. Mara tells her side first, capturing those raw early days when shock turns every ordinary moment strange. A year passes. Jen takes over the story as both women attempt to rebuild their lives. New romantic relationships complicate old bonds. Secrets surface that change how they see their dead friend and themselves. Claire's memory threads through every conversation, every choice they make. The two women discover that losing someone forces you to examine who you are when that person no longer exists to reflect you back to yourself. Millet structures this as two connected novels, giving each woman her own voice and timeline. The result explores how friendship shapes identity and how grief reshapes the living.
Genres: fiction, drama, literary-fiction, mystery, contemporary, contemporary-romance
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: dual-timeline, unreliable-narrator
400 pages · Hardcover · W. W. Norton & Company
Content warnings: death