Women

Women by Chloe Caldwell is a beautiful read/a perfect primer for an explosive lesbian affair/an essential truth. -Lena Dunham

Chloe Caldwell’s unnamed narrator hasn’t ever had an affair with a woman until she meets Finn. Older, charismatic, and in a long-term relationship, Finn is mysterious and captivating and obviously bad news. The pair quickly find themselves embroiled in the kind of demented, obsessive lust-love that can’t possibly end well. Spoiler: it doesn’t. But the detailed, raw, funny and unsparing way Caldwell’s narrator tells the story makes the experience seem appealing anyway, and worth the pain. It’s rare to read a book about falling in love that combines the heady fun and heartbreak of the experience of falling in love, but Caldwell has done just that.

€œI’ll read anything Chloe Caldwell writes. She’s a rare bird: fearless, dark, prolific, unpretentious, and truly honest. Women is an urgent reminder that narrative is how we make sense of obsession.  -Elisa Albert