First published 1997
The characters in Cheryl Jarvis's debut novel navigate relationships through an unusual medium. Someone discovers or creates a series of recorded messages that become central to the story's development. The protagonist must decide how to respond to these audio communications, which arrive unexpectedly and challenge existing assumptions about human connection. The recordings reveal secrets, forge new bonds, or complicate existing ones. As the messages accumulate, they create a web of relationships that the main character cannot ignore. The story examines how people reach across distances to find each other, using technology as both barrier and bridge. At its heart, this is a story about the courage required to truly listen and the risk involved in speaking honestly to another person.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, relationships
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Hardcover · Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)