We Were Pretending: A Novel

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?

About the Author :
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.

Review :
“This deeply pleasurable, shape-shifting book—a utopian novel masquerading as a friendship novel masquerading as a thriller—confirms Hannah Gersen as one of our finest contemporary writers, as attuned to natural ecosystems as she is to human nervous systems in this time of planetary change. A marvel.” —Katherine Hill, author of A Short Move “A gorgeous, utterly original novel about what it means to be human in an age of climate anxiety and grief. This book takes you places you didn’t know you needed to go, stirring up deep love for its characters and our precious planet along the way. Adventuresome, lyrical, and inspiring, We Were Pretending is the perfect antidote to our hectic day-to-day.” —Jennifer Acker, author of The Limits of the World 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