We Were Pretending cover art

We Were Pretending

A Novel

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We Were Pretending

By: Hannah Gersen
Narrated by: Carly Robins
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About this listen

The lure of an old friendship takes a woman in a bold new direction—away from a life she never wanted—in this tensely plotted novel of second, and third, chances.

Leigh Bowers has never felt more alone. After being caught illegally administering Hecate’s Key—a medicinal mushroom that brings peace to terminally ill patients—Leigh has lost her mother, her job, her marriage, and primary custody of her daughter. But Leigh’s life takes a hairpin turn when Jennifer Hex, an enigmatic woman from her past, reemerges.

Jennifer, a guru attuned to transcendent earthly wonders, crossing paths with a lost woman like Leigh after all this time? It’s providence. Jennifer has a plan to fulfill both their lives: they’ll flee to the Canadian forest, live off the grid, commune with nature, and harvest the rare palliative mushrooms. It’s everything Leigh has been yearning for—a connection, a purpose, a spiritual confessor, and an adventure.

But as Leigh becomes more and more enchanted with Jennifer’s extreme proposal, she wonders how well she really knows her old friend. Is Jennifer truly offering a blissful mind-body woodland escape, or is it a dangerous, ill-conceived plan that will upend Leigh’s life all over again?

©2024 Hannah Gersen (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
Friendship Psychological

Critic Reviews

“This deeply pleasurable, shape-shifting book—a utopian novel masquerading as a friendship novel masquerading as a thriller—confirms Hannah Gersen as one of our finest contemporary writers, as attuned to natural ecosystems as she is to human nervous systems in this time of planetary change. A marvel.” —Katherine Hill, author of A Short Move

“A gorgeous, utterly original novel about what it means to be human in an age of climate anxiety and grief. This book takes you places you didn’t know you needed to go, stirring up deep love for its characters and our precious planet along the way. Adventuresome, lyrical, and inspiring, We Were Pretending is the perfect antidote to our hectic day-to-day.” —Jennifer Acker, author of The Limits of the World

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