Kara Was Here

Brad Mitchells life is falling apart. His marriage is in limbo, the woman he thought he would marry, Kara, died from an overdose, an old friend keeps trying to convince him that Kara was actually murdered, and he has started to see double. Literally. When Karaor, rather, her ghostreturns to Brads side, his past and present blur into a murky fog. Kara Was Here tells the story of a failed actress whose life and sudden death are only partially understood; her teenage sister, Gwen, who starts taking dangerous steps into Karas secret world; Karas college friend, Margot, who went from being the football teams sexy secret weapon to the solitary proprietress of a baked goods business; and Karas one-time lover Brad, who stands with one foot in the past and one foot in an increasingly uncertain future. In the spirit of Clare Messud's The Emperor's Children or Hannah Pittard's The Fates Will Find Their Way, Conescus novel is at once a mystery about the dangers of aging into adulthood, an exploration of truth and perception, and a story about the ways we keep those we love with usthe people weve lost, the people we no longer see, and the people we used to be.