Closer
2025
First Published
4.73
Average Rating
282
Number of Pages
Set in 2015 during Obama's presidency and Trump's early candidacy, the tranquil college town of Horace, Oregon, is disrupted when white students taunt a Black student in the high school library. This incident sparks immediate repercussions that ripple through the community, affecting students, families, and faculty alike. Woody, the school's guidance counselor, finds himself thrust into the spotlight after years on the sidelines. Lark, a struggling student, grapples with the fallout as her relationships are reshaped by the incident. Stefanie, a conflicted parent, struggles to balance protecting her child with allowing him to find his own path. Friendships are strained, marriages are tested, and families face the threat of sudden violence. When tragedy strikes with the death of a student, the survivors are left grappling with the fault lines in their most intimate relationships and searching for ways to draw closer. Closer explores themes of community, resilience, and the impacts of individual actions on collective destinies, offering a poignant reflection on how individuals grapple with their lives amidst societal challenges and personal reckonings.
Avg Rating
4.73
Number of Ratings
15
5 STARS
73%
4 STARS
27%
3 STARS
0%
2 STARS
0%
1 STARS
0%
goodreads
Author
Miriam Gershow
Author · 4 books
Miriam Gershow’s debut novel, The Local News, was hailed as “unusually credible and precise" and "deftly heartbreaking” by The New York Times. Miriam’s stories appear in The Georgia Review, Gulf Coast and Black Warrior Review, among other journals. She is the recipient of a Fiction Fellowship from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing andan Oregon Literary Fellowship, as well as writing residencies at Playa Summer Lake and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. Miriam lives with her family in Eugene OR, where she teaches at the University of Oregon. She is at work on her next novel. (Photo Credit: Livia Fremouw)
