Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English

WHO WE ARE NOW

Lauryn Chamberlain

A poignant, incisive paperback original about life's "Sliding Doors" moments, this title explores the disproportionate impact that seemingly small choices we make have on the rest of our lives, jumping boldly through the years in alternating points of view and moving at the same unforgiving pace as do those precious, confusing years between college and real life.

WHO WE ARE NOW is a novel of epic friendship. We meet Clarissa, Rachel, Nate, and Dev in their last year at a liberal arts college, where these four friends are preparing to take their first steps into adulthood. Then they do.

We follow them for fifteen years, through their twenties and then their thirties as their lives change and complicate, as do the ties between them. Two find fame, two sacrifice idealism for a secure paycheck. Two are locked in a will-they-won't-they holding pattern. Some of them mature into fabulous human beings. Others lose their footing and let their friends down with catastrophic results.

A meditation on life and friendship, this novel exemplifies Lauryn Chamberlain's talent for writing utterly relatable stories and lovable characters. WHO WE ARE NOW examines way that our early relationships encourage us forward and sometimes hold us back. It questions how the seemingly small decisions we make in our youth send us down wildly diverging paths. In other words, this is a perfect novel for the current zeitgeist, as we all assess and reassess our priorities in a fast-changing world.

Lauryn Chamberlain was born and raised in Michigan. She studied journalism and French at Northwestern University and then moved to New York City, where she worked for several years as a journalist, freelance writer, and content strategist (sometimes simultaneously). She currently lives in Toronto.

Available products
Book Published 2023-08-08 by Dutton Books
Book Published 2023-08-08 by Dutton Books

Comments

An unforgettable novel, populated with recognizable characters, packed with nuanced emotion, and replete with the intimately tender, relatable style that has fast become Lauryn Chamberlain's trademark. Every lifelong friendship is its own epic tale, and Chamberlain gives these stories their due with a level of care I found incredibly moving, all while expertly weaving a diverting narrative I couldn't put down!

A brilliantly paced coming-of-age novel, Who We Are Now stars four memorable characters who each remind me of someone I know and love. Chamberlain beautifully captures how our relationships, dreams, and priorities shift over time, and is unflinchingly candid when describing the sticky mixture of envy and pride we feel when our friends succeed before us. This book is brimming with heart and wisdom; I'll admit I wept several times during the last few chapters, so don't say I didn't warn you!

With lyrical prose and soaring insight, Lauryn Chamberlain triumphs in her absolute stunning sophomore novel, Who We Are Now. Within pages, Rachel, Dev, Nate and Clarissa instantly feel like friends plucked from reality, and readers will laugh, cry, and grow right alongside them over the fifteen year span of this gorgeous book. (I've never craved the ability to meet up with fictional characters in real life more than I have while reading this book!) Backdropped by the beating heart of Manhattan, Who We Are Now paints a moving portrait of ambition, identity, loss, regret and the nuanced ebbs and flows of adult friendship. For fans of Meg Wolitzer's The Interestings with a millennium twist, this is the kind of novel that will stay in readers' hearts long after turning its final pages. I couldn't put it down!

Who We Are Now transported me back to my college years and twenties in New York: I could hear the thumping club music, see the rows of cubicles, and feel each character's yearning for the day everything falls into place. Chamberlain beautifully captures the intimacy of friendship and the ache of nostalgia. Propulsive, poignant, and stylish, this is a must-read.

Who We Are Now is an honest, insightful look at the ways in which friendships, first formed in college, continue to expand and contract through the years. Chamberlain aptly demonstrates that who we are now is, in fact, a composite of our past histories and our future desires. A relatable and engaging read.