Where We Have to Go

A clear-eyed and sharply witty first novel about the last days of childhood in a family coming apart at the seams — from a young writer who deserves a seat next to Heather O’Neill and Miriam Toews.

Lauren Kirshner’s captivating debut novel follows a young girl’s coming of age during the ten years in which she will struggle — in ways both familiar and unexpected — to find her place in the world.

Set in Toronto, against the backdrop of her parents’ decaying romance and her own secret battles, Lucy Bloom’s wayward journey toward redemption will take her to points high and low, and to places she never could have imagined. It’s a journey that will see her question the limits of unconditional love, grow estranged from her own body, and discover complicated truths about what it means to be a young woman.

The unforgettable people who populate Lucy’s world include her mother, Joy, whose boisterous voice belies a deep disappointment in how her life has turned out; her father, Frank, a failed glamour photographer turned travel agent confounded by his own inertia; her best friend, Erin, an artist whose outspoken iconoclasm will both inspire and challenge Lucy; and Crashing Wave, Frank’s lover, an exotic dancer and the woman Lucy comes to imagine as the ideal of all that is feminine — and longs to meet. Then there is Lucy, precocious, resilient, and keenly attentive to the absurdities of life around her. A girl on the verge of the rest of her life, she will make you laugh and break your heart, too.

At once wryly humorous and deeply affecting, Where We Have to Go marks the bold debut of a striking literary talent.