PEOPLE WHO KNEW ME
St. Martins, May 2016
One of Bustle’s Best Debuts of the Year
Emily Morris got her happily-ever-after earlier than most. Married at a young age to a man she loves passionately, she is building the life she always wanted. But when her mother-in-law becomes chronically ill, enormous stress threatens her marriage. Emily watches helplessly as the devotion Drew once showed her is transferred to his ailing mother. When she’s thrust into an enforced caretaker role, it’s too much to bear. Emily starts spending more and more time at work. That’s when she falls in love with her boss. That’s when she gets pregnant.
Resolved to tell her husband of the affair and to leave him for the father of her child, Emily’s plans are thwarted when the world is suddenly split open. It’s 9/11 and her lover is just one of the thousands of people who have been killed in the towers. It’s amid terrible tragedy that she finds her freedom, as she leaves New York City to start a new life. It’s not easy, but Emily–now Connie–forges a new happily-ever-after in California. But when a life-threatening diagnosis upends Connie’s life, she is forced to confront her past for the good of her thirteen-year-old daughter.
A riveting debut in which a woman must confront her own past in order to secure the future of her daughter, People Who Knew Me asks readers-what would you do?
“Refreshingly raw and honest . . . PEOPLE WHO KNEW ME has a sharp edge of emotional trauma and disappointment. It is very easy to love Emily—she is like any of us, struggling to make the best decisions she can. Ms. Hooper reminds us that control is an illusion, that the past offers no pardons and the choices we make, in turn, make us.” —The Wall Street Journal
Hooper’s debut novel poses the evocative question, have you ever thought about what it would be like to start your life over? Readers will ponder Emily’s difficult situation and often disturbing choices as they are glued to this compulsively readable tale. Hooper does not shy away from human nature’s less attractive qualities but rather engages with them head on, asking ever more demanding questions: what must one sacrifice in a marriage? What does it take to care for someone who is chronically ill? What does it mean to love yourself? — Booklist