Caitlin Barasch

“Caitlin Barasch’s writing overflows with humor, compassion, intrigue, and the chaos of identity. It overflows with life itself.”—Jonathan Safran Foer, New York Times bestselling author of Here I Am “This book is a ride. An unruly study of fixation, performance, and the exquisite agony of anonymity.”—Raven Leilani, New York Times bestselling author of Luster A wry and bold debut novel, which is at once an irresistible catastrophe waiting to happen and an unflinching exploration of how we narrate the stories of our lives, as an aspiring novelist finds herself stalking—and writing about—her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend. Twenty-four-year-old New York bookseller Naomi Ackerman is desperate to write a novel, but struggles to find a story to tell. When, after countless disastrous dates, she meets Caleb—a perfectly nice guy with a Welsh accent and a unique patience for all her quirks—she thinks she's finally stumbled onto a time-honored subject: love. Then Caleb's ex-girlfriend, Rosemary, enters the scene. Upon learning that Rosemary is not safely tucked away in Caleb’s homeland overseas, but in fact lives in New York and also works in the literary world, Naomi is threatened and intrigued in equal measure. If they both fell for the same man, what else might they have in common? The more Naomi learns about Rosemary, the more her curiosity consumes her. Before she knows it, her casual Instagram stalking morphs into a friendship under false pretenses—and becomes the subject of her nascent novel. As her lies and half-truths spiral out of control, and fact and fiction become increasingly difficult to untangle, Naomi must decide what—and who—she’s willing to sacrifice to write the perfect ending.

A Novel

A Novel Obsession

Amor a quanto obrigas, a novel obsession

"Twenty-four-year-old bookseller and Manhattanite Naomi Ackerman is determined to write a novel--to prove the believers right and the disbelievers wrong (though she finds herself falling into both camps, depending on the day). When, after years of disastrous Tinder dates, she meets Caleb--a perfectly nice guy with a Welsh accent, a non-pretentious job, and a unique patience for all of her quirks--she feels she's finally found something to write about: the newness of love. But then, Rosemary enters the scene. When Naomi learns that Rosemary, Caleb's ex-girlfriend, is not safely tucked away overseas as she'd assumed but in fact lives in New York and works in the literary world, she is fundamentally threatened and intrigued in equal measure--if they both fell for the same man, they must have something essential in common, right? And is Rosemary the jilted ex who led Caleb to his true match, Naomi, or is it Naomi who is simply a bump in the road before Caleb and Rosemary find their way back together? Naomi is determined to find out how their stories intertwine ... She is a writer after all. But when Naomi's casual Instagram stalking morphs into a full-blown friendship under false pretenses, she can't seem to get herself to quit Rosemary, in whom she finds an unexpected confidant--and she can't stop writing about her either, now having found the real perfect subject for her nascent novel. As things spiral out of her control, and fact and fiction become increasingly hard to separate, Naomi manipulates the most important people in her life in pursuit of her craft-her family, her friends, Caleb, Rosemary, and, perhaps most devastatingly, herself--until she's finally forced to decide who and what she's willing to sacrifice to write them all the perfect ending"--

Caitlin Barasch

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