We Do What We Do In the Dark, by Michelle Hart
Hart's exquisite debut novel focuses on a young woman’s abject yearning for an older woman. Like a moth drawn to a flame, young and inexperienced Mallory is drawn to this more worldly woman, whose cold and mysterious demeanor only enhances the attraction. In a series of vignettes crafted of sensual and intimate language, Hart brings readers directly into Mallory's pseudo-coming-of-age, showing us her vulnerability and adoration for someone who, even as she grows older, she never quite equals. This is a powerful evocation of desire, loss, and disappointment, a story that is at once about the pitfalls of falling in love with someone out of reach and the heartbreak that is part and parcel of growing up.