No One You Know: A Novel

by Emma Tourtelot

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798896360483
Publisher:	She Writes Press
Publication date:	01/20/2026
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

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.

Editorial Reviews

Tourtelot’s writing is direct and suffused with feelings of grief, fear, anxiety, and terror (fitting for our collective moment) but also, vitally, of hope, clarity, empathy, and love. The book’s every sentence practically thrums with a mother’s love, and the overall conclusion is one of great poignance. No One You Know pulls the heart.”—Joshua Ferris, author of A Calling for Charlie Barnes

“A deeply satisfying, intimate novel about the fragile filaments that bind us and the ghosts who shape our life. Emma Tourtelot steers through the twists and turns of small-town life in No One You Know. Trust me, this fantastically vivid study of a family come undone is your next book club book.”—Samantha Hunt, author of The Dark Dark

“A heartbreaking, keenly observed novel about love and loss and all the territories in between.”—Jenny Offill, author of Dept. of Speculation and Weather

“A smart and lovely novel about love, death, family, friendship and, importantly, Mid-Hudson Valley real estate. Grab a flat white and be transported by Tourtelot’s prose.”—Gary Shteyngart, author of Our Country Friends

From the Publisher