No One You Know Format: Paperback

For fans of Alison Espach and Claire Lombardo, a poignant and thought-provoking debut novel about the fraught bond between mothers and teen daughters, the ripple effects of a tragic event in a small town, and the search for meaning after loss.

What if the only way forward is to let go of everything you know?

Kate’s life in the Hudson Valley seems picture-perfect: a thriving career as a realtor-slash-momfluencer, a devoted husband, and a strong bond with her brilliant teenage daughter, Indie. But when Indie’s best friend dies suddenly, their idyllic small-town haven begins to crumble. Kate and Ethan lose their footing, and Indie, alone in her grief, falls down an internet rabbit hole of nihilism and existential despair.

As Indie searches for meaning in a world that feels random and cruel, Kate struggles to reconcile her carefully curated online persona with the raw, unyielding grief tearing her family apart. When long-buried family secrets rise to the surface, she is forced to confront unsettling truths that challenge everything she thought she knew—about marriage, motherhood, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.

Told in the dual voices of a mother and daughter grappling with loss, No One You Know is filled with poignant observations on parenthood, best friendship, class and political divides, infidelity in a small town—and the bitter truth that death can touch everything we love. 

Emma Tourtelot is the coauthor of eight nonfiction books about sex and relationships and has penned regular columns for New York, Glamour, and The Guardian, among others. She was also the cocreator of Nerve Personals. After providing sex advice for almost two decades as one half of the writing duo Em & Lo, she is now a middle school librarian. This is her first novel. She lives in the Hudson Valley in New York with her husband and two teenage children.