by Dana Spiotta
First published 2016
Meadow and Carrie grow up together in 1980s Los Angeles with dreams of becoming filmmakers. Despite their shared ambition, the two friends hold opposing views on sex, power, moviemaking, and moral values. Their world shifts when they encounter Jelly, a loner who conducts her most intimate relationships through telephone calls. Older, alluring, and enigmatic, Jelly calls powerful men without invitation and seduces them not through physical attraction but by listening. She invites these men to expose themselves emotionally, and they comply. As the three women navigate their creative aspirations and personal relationships, their different approaches to connection and power create tension. The story explores how people communicate and survive in modern life, examining the gap between image and sound, appearance and reality. At its core, this is a novel about female friendship, artistic ambition, and the complex ways women wield influence in a world that often diminishes them.
Genres: fiction, drama, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Los Angeles
Period: 1980s
304 pages · Paperback · Hollands Diep