Tell Me Who We Were

McQuade’s masterful debut, a collection of linked stories, centers on six adolescents: Romy, Evie, Claire, Nell, Grace, and Lillith, who, in the opening story, bond over a tragedy during their first year at an all-girls boarding school. The seven intricate stories that follow delve into who these girls become at different points in their lives, or showcase an aspect of their identity through the eyes of someone close to them. In “A Myth of Satellites,” a new father looks back with regret on his teen-aged summer crush on Romy. “Wedge of Swans” reveals 29-year-old Evie’s ambivalence about having a child after having a miscarriage. The bizarre emotional and physical journey the newly separated Claire takes with her French-speaking, one-year-old baby is outlined in “Helen in Texarkana.” In the fantastical final story, “In The Hollow,” Lillith’s widower husband is convinced his wife has returned to him as a tree in their backyard. The author plumbs the depths of each character’s soul—how in the trajectory of growing older these women can or cannot connect with others as they deal with loss, infertility, or heartbreak. This exceptional debut reveals the extraordinary and mysterious underpinnings of ordinary lives whose presence long linger after the reader turns the final page. [em](July) [/em]