"[ A warm, witty, and wise novel about a woman journeying into the unknown in the wake of a sudden loss When her first love and friend of more than a decade, Gabe, dies suddenly at twenty-nine, thirty-year-old Julia is launched onto an intercontinental quest to recover his lost possessions. Her journey takes her from Los Angeles to London and into the murky realm of the past, which seems to offer more questions than answers about who Gabe really was, and who they were to;each other. It also sets Julia on a collision course with the last woman he loved,;a guarded, self-possessed florist and restaurateur named Elizabeth, who insists on withholding Gabe’s beloved guitar--one of the departed indie rock musician’s dearest belongings--for reasons Julia can’t understand. Both women, it turns out, have something to hide. Are Julia and Elizabeth friends, are they competitors, or are they bound by something deeper than their love of the same man? An engrossing, transformative journey and a tender coming-of-age story with a complex and powerful love at its heart, <Loved One< is poised to become an instant classic. Written with crackling wit and deep compassion, it asks profound, resonant questions about life, love, and loss. What happens when we admit that the deepest feelings never die? How do we reconcile the various--and sometimes contradictory--truths about our loved ones? Full of;revelations and emotional twists that keep the pages turning, <Loved One <is an unforgettable novel that introduces Aisha Muharrar as a novelist deeply attuned to the mysteries of love, memory, and intimacy, and to the sense of self we find in our closest relationships.

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Aisha Muharrar

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“[Loved One] is special. . . full of wildly astute, delectably thorny questions about love and loss and possession.” —Maggie Shipstead, New York Times bestselling author of Great Circle

“Shimmers with wit even as it explores deep loss.” —Rachel Khong, New York Times bestselling author of Real Americans**

Julia is eighteen when she meets her first-love-turned-close-friend, Gabe, at a party in Barcelona. Twelve years later, Julia meets Elizabeth, Gabe’s most recent ex-girlfriend, at Gabe’s funeral—an interaction that leaves Julia with more questions than answers about Gabe and their shared history.

When Gabe’s mother asks Julia to retrieve the sentimental objects her late son left in the London home he shared with Elizabeth, Julia leaps at the chance to track down her ex’s ex and make sense of their brief encounter. Soon, the two women find themselves in a complex dance of withholding and revelation. Both, it turns out, have something to hide.

An emotional mystery spanning years, continents, and relationship statuses, Loved One introduces Aisha Muharrar as a novelist intimately attuned to the intricacies of love, memory, and ambiguous loss. What happens when we admit that the deepest feelings never die? How do we reconcile various—and sometimes contradictory—truths about those closest to us? An engrossing, transformative coming-of-age story with a powerful love at its heart, Loved One is poised to become an instant classic.