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This darkly brilliant debut novel explores how women shape themselves beneath the gaze of love, friendship, and the algorithm—by a thrilling feminist voice for the age of AI.

What happens when what was once considered dystopia is now reality?

On the Santa Cruz, California, waterfront, every house is a flawless glass monolith. Except for one. In a dilapidated bungalow, Mitty and her elderly roommate, Bethel, are the oddball pair who represent the last vestiges of a free-spirited town taken over by the tech elite. But their lives are about to be forever changed when a new couple, Sebastian and Lena, move in next door.

Sebastian is a renowned tech founder and Lena is his spellbindingly perfect girlfriend. But Lena has secrets; she feels uneasy about her oddly spotty memory and is growing increasingly wary of the way Sebastian controls their relationship. Mitty is also hiding something, and the way Lena appears to float through her luxurious life draws Mitty inexorably into her orbit. As the two women begin to form a close friendship, they are finally forced to face their pasts—and the urgent truths that could change everything.

Showcasing Olivia Gatwood’s talent as an essential author for our hyper-digital age, Whoever You Are, Honey is a gripping, seductive, and prescient novel that dissects relationships between women and examines how striving for perfection and desirability plays out in spaces where technology and power intersect.

Don't just take our word for it...

“Whoever You Are, Honey is built on simmering tensions at the precipice of boiling over . . . The twin themes of women’s loneliness and desire are the timeless beating hearts of Olivia Gatwood’s debut novel, propped up by of-the-moment ruminations on queerness and artificial intelligence.”
– Vogue, “The Best Books of 2024 So Far”

“Whoever You Are, Honey is a sensual, detail-rich, utterly immersive novel. So propulsive and atmospheric, and at times creepy, I never wanted to put it down and longed for its company when not turning the pages. . . . A gorgeous reading experience.”
– Jenny Mustard, YouTuber and author of Okay Days

“Whoever You Are, Honey reads like a thriller, but it’s also a tender and searching exploration of what it means to inhabit a female body. The characters—wounded, wounding, and longing for a better world—will catch you up and carry you along with them.”
– Kelly Link, author of The Book of Love

Taste the very first page

In the middle of the night, the stretch of sparsely occupied beachfront properties lining Potbelly Beach Road resembles a row of gapped teeth. This is what Mitty has always imagined, at least. If a sailor offshore were awake and looking out the window of his cabin, just as he was traveling through Monterey Bay, specifically along the coast of Santa Cruz, and even more specifically New Brighton State Beach, he might notice the black pockets where the empty homes sit, broken up by the warm glow of an illuminated living room, and perhaps think of a child’s gummy mouth.

Over the years, a number of these houses have been sold and converted to vacation rentals and summer stays, leaving Mitty and Bethel as the last remaining permanent residents in the neighborhood. They bemoan this change, of course. In a way, as the sole locals, this protest has become their responsibility. But still, there is a small part of Mitty that takes plea- sure in the surprise of these revolving tenants. When she steps out for her nighttime walks, she’s exhilarated by the inability to predict which properties will be busied, which transparent evening she’ll find herself watching, which not- quite-neighbor she’ll get to know without ever having spoken to them.

Outside, the eucalyptus trees whisper. The sand clenches beneath her bare feet. The houses are standing on stilts, ele…

July 2024