We Were Pretending

A Novel

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Pub Date Aug 13 2024 | Archive Date Aug 27 2024

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Description

The lure of an old friendship takes a woman in a bold new direction—away from a life she never wanted—in this tensely plotted novel of second, and third, chances.

Leigh Bowers has never felt more alone. After being caught illegally administering Hecate’s Key—a medicinal mushroom that brings peace to terminally ill patients—Leigh has lost her mother, her job, her marriage, and primary custody of her daughter. But Leigh’s life takes a hairpin turn when Jennifer Hex, an enigmatic woman from her past, reemerges.

Jennifer, a guru attuned to transcendent earthly wonders, crossing paths with a lost woman like Leigh after all this time? It’s providence. Jennifer has a plan to fulfill both their lives: they’ll flee to the Canadian forest, live off the grid, commune with nature, and harvest the rare palliative mushrooms. It’s everything Leigh has been yearning for—a connection, a purpose, a spiritual confessor, and an adventure.

But as Leigh becomes more and more enchanted with Jennifer’s extreme proposal, she wonders how well she really knows her old friend. Is Jennifer truly offering a blissful mind-body woodland escape, or is it a dangerous, ill-conceived plan that will upend Leigh’s life all over again?

The lure of an old friendship takes a woman in a bold new direction—away from a life she never wanted—in this tensely plotted novel of second, and third, chances.

Leigh Bowers has never felt more...


A Note From the Publisher

Hannah Gersen is the author of Home Field. Her fiction has been published most recently in Electric Lit, Visions, the Southern Review, and New England Review. Her essays and criticism have appeared in the New York Times, Poets & Writers Magazine, Lit Hub, Granta, and The Common, among others. She lives in Brunswick, Maine, with her family.

Hannah Gersen is the author of Home Field. Her fiction has been published most recently in Electric Lit, Visions, the Southern Review, and New England Review. Her essays and criticism have appeared...


Advance Praise

Praise for Hannah Gersen

“A talented and wise writer.” —Edan Lepucki, New York Times bestselling author of Time’s Mouth

“Gersen’s characters are so full, so gently flawed, and so deeply human that it’s nearly impossible to resist falling into their world, with all its sorrow and all its subtle joy.” Kirkus Reviews

“Gersen’s writing walks a lyrical tightrope…[and] uncovers the unflinching truths in families that wound us and somehow, miraculously, save us.” —Robin Antalek, author of The Grown Ups and The Summer We Fell Apart


Praise for Hannah Gersen

“A talented and wise writer.” —Edan Lepucki, New York Times bestselling author of Time’s Mouth

“Gersen’s characters are so full, so gently flawed, and so deeply human that it’s...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781662515101
PRICE $16.99 (USD)
PAGES 251

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