First published 2025
Julia's world shifts when Gabe dies at twenty-nine. He was her first love, then her closest friend, a musician who drew devoted fans wherever he played. Now he's gone, and his things are scattered across continents with people Julia barely knows. She decides to retrieve them all. The journey takes her from city to city, tracking down Gabe's friends and followers. Then she meets Elizabeth, Gabe's former girlfriend who seems to glide through life with perfect ease. Julia becomes obsessed with Elizabeth, stalking her online and finding excuses to stay in touch. Both women loved Gabe, both lost him, but their grief takes different shapes. Julia wants to own his memory while Elizabeth seems to carry it lightly. Their competition over who knew him best threatens to consume them both. The real question becomes whether they can stop fighting over a dead man long enough to understand each other.
Genres: literary-fiction, domestic-fiction, grief, contemporary, adult, adult-fiction
Vibes: character-driven, emotionally-intense, introspective, melancholic, obsessive
Tropes: grief-processing, journey-of-self-discovery, obsessive-behavior, rivalry-turned-understanding
Setting: multiple cities across continents
Period: contemporary
336 pages · Paperback · Penguin Books
Content warnings: death, mental-illness