Wish You Were Her

by Elle McNicoll

Overview

An autistic YA homage to The Shop Around the Corner with a pinch of Cyrano, Elle McNicoll's Wish You Were Her is a triumph!

Allegra Brooks is an eighteen year old actress who is secretly autistic. When a journalist publishes a scathing profile on Allegra, she decides to take the summer off in Lake Pristine, to visit her slightly estranged father. There, she befriends the booksellers of Brooks Books and decides to help them plan the popular Lake Pristine Book Festival. As she gets closer to Simon, the openly enthusiastic and neurotypical of the two, she realizes it's really Jonah, the boy she argues with constantly and finds a bit off-putting, who she's actually more and more drawn to. As the summer wraps up and the festival approaches, Allegra has to make some decisions about what she owes to others, and to herself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250335562
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/26/2025
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

ELLE MCNICOLL is a bestselling novelist. She is four-time Carnegie nominated, and was shortlisted for the Books Are My Bag Awards 2020, the Branford Boase Award and The Little Rebels Award. Her novels have been published all over the world and have been translated into multiple languages. Elle is an advocate for better representation of neurodiversity in publishing, and currently lives in North London.

Editorial Reviews

2025-05-16
World-renowned actor Allegra Brooks escapes her celebrity life for the summer and grapples with fame and love as an autistic person.

Eighteen-year-old Allegra is ready for a break from the Hollywood grind of being on set and going on press tours. She heads for the respite of quiet Lake Pristine, the small-town setting of 2024’sSome Like It Cold. She’s planning to spend time with her father, who owns a bookshop there and runs a popular annual book festival. This interlude provides Allegra with an experience unlike any she’s previously had: She gets to focus on making friends, working a normal job, and navigating the complexities of authentic relationships. She does all of this while trying to escape constant public scrutiny and find her way as an autistic person in a neurotypical world. When she meets Jonah Thorne, who’s also autistic, they form a deep and meaningful connection, although it’s fraught thanks to disagreements, romantic tension, and external forces working against them. Allegra is a beautiful, talented, mid-size, neurodivergent woman whose autism is described with nuance and honesty. Despite its richly drawn characters, the plot is unevenly paced, bogged down by a subplot involving a mysterious email correspondence that feels like an unnecessary complication. Characters largely present white.

Complex, compelling characters populate a satisfying romance with some plotting issues.(Romance. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews

"Complex, compelling characters populate a satisfying romance." —Kirkus Review

“Full of wit and literary charm, this work is a romantic and compassionate look at two of an infinity of autistic experiences that examines the effects of burnout and masking, and the beauty beyond the struggles of being autistic.” —Booklist

“McNicoll empathetically presents Allegra’s struggles to fit in—whether because of her celebrity status or neurodivergence—across this honest tale about the brutal scrutiny of fame and self-perception, as well as a reassuring and cozy romance.” —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher