“[Handler’s] nuanced exploration of how art, lies, and community shape female identity is lived out by characters so real, I had to remind myself that they were fictional. . . . a powerful, compulsively readable story.”

—Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Never Have I Ever

From the author of The Magnetic Girl comes a story of high stakes friendships, secrets, and the pressure to meet expectations set during the tempestuous era of Second Wave feminism.

When teenager Nadine Harvey helps her best friend hide a disturbing secret, she’s also concealing her own deepest truth: she’ll do almost anything to be wanted. Five years and three thousand miles later, Nadine is thrilled when her idol, Celeste—a rock singer known as “the oracle”—befriends her. As Celeste’s career begins to falter, she launches a bold program encouraging women to speak their truths. Nadine eagerly becomes her business partner, but as their ambitions clash, their alliance starts to unravel. Determined to hide their growing rift, Celeste and Nadine invite their mothers to a high-profile awards gala. When painful histories resurface, each woman must confront how she sees herself—and how the world sees her.

Jessica Handler’s first novel, The Magnetic Girl, was awarded the 2020 Southern Book Prize. She is also the author of the memoir, Invisible Sisters, and the craft guide, Braving the Fire: A Guide to Writing About Grief and Loss. Her writing has appeared on NPR, in Tin House, The Bitter Southerner, Brevity, Creative Nonfiction, the Washington Post, Oldster, and elsewhere. She served as the Ferrol Sams, Jr. Distinguished Writer in Residence at Mercer University, a visiting faculty member at West Virginia Wesleyan College’s low-residency MFA, and a member of the faculty at the Etowah Valley MFA at Reinhardt College. She lives in Atlanta with her husband, author Mickey Dubrow. More at www.jessicahandler.com.