Who you might be : a novel

Author

Leigh N Gallagher

Call Number

• FICTION GALL (CEN)

Edition

First edition.

Publication Information

New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2022.

Physical Description

338 pages ; 25 cm.

Summary

"Told in three distinct, brilliantly interlocking narratives, Leigh Gallagher's Who you might be is a fiercely original debut novel that takes readers from 1990s Southern California to a UFOlogist holdout in the Nevada desert, the graffiti underworld of Detroit, and the self-important Brooklyn art scene to present an unflinching examination of trauma"--

It's the late nineties--the dawn of the internet--and Judy and Meghan have lied to their mothers and run away for the weekend, to see a girl they've met in a chat room. Meanwhile, twelve-year-old Cassie, desperately clinging to childhood hopes, travels deep into the Nevada desert to reunite with her real mother at a strange and isolated compound. And, across the country, Caleb, an entitled teenager, is miserable following his family's move from upper-crust San Francisco to boring Ann Arbor--until, emboldened by privilege, his tours of blighted Detroit become graffiti-writing escapades, with his faithful little brother in tow. Each of these adventures derails in severe, alarming ways, only to resurface and collide two decades later in an unforgettable finale that explores the power--and limits--of the narratives that come to define us.