We nod. We wave. We do not ask.
September, in a suburb west of Philadelphia. An old cemetery lies at the center of the neighborhood, and the people who live around it go there every day: to run, to grieve, to rehearse, to be alone.
A drama teacher directing The Crucible and quietly losing her nerve, in a house her children have left. A retired scientist trying to prove his body still works and his marriage is secure. A hospital chaplain carrying something she has told no one. A teenage boy who comes to say his lines aloud where nobody will look at him strangely. A young girl who resents her parents' divorce and is stuck in the middle.
For weeks, they pass one another. They nod. They do not stop. Then one night in late autumn, something happens that none of them can walk away from.
By November they will know each other's names, and what it cost to learn them.
How Do I Know You? is a debut novel about recognition and belonging, and the distance between the two, for readers of Tom Lake, Hello Beautiful, and The Story of Arthur Truluv.
HOW DO I KNOW YOU?
Praise
“Following a compelling cast of interwoven characters, How Do I Know You? feels like the best kind of walk on a crisp autumn day: contemplative, internally rich, and inspiring us to find the profound in our everyday lives.”
— Olivia Worley, Man of My Dreams
“How Do I Know You? is full of delights: an immersive mosaic of voices telling the story; rich nature observations; a strong sense of place, set in Philadelphia and its suburbs; beautiful, thought-provoking, and often funny writing; and most of all, a celebration of the small but significant moments of connection that make up human life.”
— Kathy Anderson, Vamoose: Stories
“A quiet, richly drawn story about our collective deep yearning for genuine human connection. Kate McGrath has crafted a novel that explores how one defining episode can ricochet through disparate lives, both strengthening and testing the bonds that tie us together. An elegiac and impressive debut.”
— Michael Callahan, The Lost Letters from Martha's Vineyard
“Reading Kate McGrath's impressive debut novel is a healing experience. Gracefully written, the story is told through disparate voices with casual connections, whose lives eventually braid together to repair a social fabric rent during the days of peak (let's hope) COVID. How do we know each other? We see each other at workplaces, in neighborhoods, in schools. And then, despite our separate griefs, we find in those spurious connections true depth and friendship. Hard-won, but worth it. I was reminded of Elizabeth Strout's novels, especially of Olive Kitteridge, as well as of Madison Smartt Bell's The Year of Silence.”
— Claudia Putnam, author of Seconds and Double Negative