We Were The Universe: A Novel,New

A young mother, in denial after the death of her sister, navigates the dizzying landscapes of desire, guilt, and grief in this darkly comic, highly anticipated debut novel from Kimberly King Parsons, author of the story collection, Black Light (longlisted for the National Book Award).The trip was supposed to be fun. When Kits best friend gets dumped by his boyfriend, he begs her to ditch her family responsibilities for an idyllic weekend in the Montana mountains. Theyll soak in hot springs, then sneak a vape into a dive bar and drink too much, like old times. Instead, their getaway only reminds Kit of everything shes lost lately: her wildness, her independence, andmost heartbreaking of allher sister, Julie, who died a few years ago.When she returns home to the Dallas suburbs, Kit tries to settle in to her routinelong afternoons spent caring for her irrepressible daughter, going on therapistadvised dates with her concerned husband, and reluctantly taking her mothers phone calls. But in the secret recesses of Kits mind, shes reminiscing about the band she used to be inand how theyd go out to the desert after shows and drop acid. Shes imagining an impossible threesome with her kids pretty gymnastics teacher and the cool playground mom. Keyed into everything that might distract from her surfacing pain, Kit spirals. As her already thin boundaries between reality and fantasy blur, she begins to wonder: Is Julie really gone?Neon bright in its insight, both devastating and laughoutloud funny, We Were the Universe is an ambitious, inventive novel from a revelatory new voice in American fictiona fearless exploration of sisterhood, motherhood, friendship, marriage, psychedelics, and the many strange, transcendent shapes love can take.