Hannah Harlee
Novel
Hannah Harlee’s debut novel follows an enigmatic heroine who refuses to conform to convention, be it social or formal.
Celine—early twenties, cerebral, detached—has just moved to San Francisco, where she knows no one and has no ties. In her bid for community, she tries out a local women’s full moon circle, though it doesn’t take her long to dismiss the group as embarrassing and out of touch. But her next attempts at connection fall flat too, and when her roommate’s boyfriend sexually assaults her, she needs a new place to live.
Desperate, she finds herself folded back into that same spiritual collective she thought she left behind. Now, with her vulnerability so apparent to her, living with these seekers who will do anything for enlightenment makes her feel included and purposeful for the first time. So can Celine see clearly what’s at stake when their spiritual practices escalate into deeper extremes? And more importantly: how far will she go to get herself free when she realizes she must?
For readers of Chelsea Bieker’s Godshot, Emma Cline’s The Girls, and Otessa Moshfegh’s Eileen, this novel is a work of accessible literary fiction that wonders how long a person can go without warmth and tenderness, and what breeds in the space left open by their absence.
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