A National Book Critics Circle Leonard Prize Finalist Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize Named a Best Book of the Year by Vogue, Buzz Feed, The Washington Post, Esquire, Harper\'s Bazaar, NPR, NYLON, Huffington Post, Kirkus Reviews, Barnes & Noble Chosen for the Book of the Month Club, Nylon Book Club, and Belletrist Book Club Named an Indie Next Pick and a Barnes and Noble Discover Pick Everything about fifteen-year-old Cat\'s new town in rural Michigan is lonely and off-kilter until she meets her neighbor, the manic, beautiful, pill-popping Marlena.
Told in a haunting dialogue between past and present, Marlena is the captivating story of an intoxicating, indelible friendship that does not flinch from the resonant effects of its loss..
Now, decades later, Cat must try again to move on, even as the memory of Marlena calls her back.
Within a year, Marlena is dead, drowned in six inches of icy water in the woods nearby.
Cat is quickly drawn into Marlena\'s orbit and as she catalogues a litany of firsts--first drink, first cigarette, first kiss, first pill--Marlena\'s habits harden and calcify.
A National Book Critics Circle Leonard Prize Finalist Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize Named a Best Book of the Year by Vogue, Buzz Feed, The Washington Post, Esquire, Harper\'s Bazaar, NPR, NYLON, Huffington Post, Kirkus Reviews, Barnes & Noble Chosen for the Book of the Month Club, Nylon Book Club, and Belletrist Book Club Named an Indie Next Pick and a Barnes and Noble Discover Pick Everything about fifteen-year-old Cat\'s new town in rural Michigan is lonely and off-kilter until she meets her neighbor, the manic, beautiful, pill-popping Marlena
