A splintery, propulsive debut novel that brilliantly captures the unnerving fragility of youth and the unexpected turns that ultimately shape our identities.
It's the late nineties—the dawn of the internet—and Who You Might Be follows the intersecting lives of four unforgettable characters: Judy and Meghan, two girls who lie to their mothers and run away for the weekend to meet someone from a chat room; Cassie, a twelve-year-old desperately clinging to childhood hopes as she travels deep into the Nevada desert to reunite with her mother at a strange, isolated compound; and Caleb, a privileged teenager who turns to graffiti-writing escapades in blighted Detroit, with his little brother in tow, to escape the boredom of Ann Arbor.
Deftly written and peopled with indelible characters pushed to great extremes, Leigh N. Gallagher's debut novel explores the ramifications of life's most trying encounters and the resilience it takes to determine for ourselves who we might be. Each adventure derails in severe, alarming ways, only to resurface and collide two decades later in an unforgettable finale that considers the power—and limits—of the narratives that define us.