We Could Be Anyone

Mexican siblings in a small West Coast town in the 1920s seek revenge on a robber baron by plotting an elaborate con in this lean and tightly wound supernatural novel from McLemore (Flawless Girls). Sixteen-year-old Lola Bernal and her brother Lisandro, 17, make their living by staging hauntings; Lola acts as a ghost, terrorizing their mark in increasingly elaborate ways until the mark pays a young spiritualist, played by Lisandro, to exorcise the apparition. Unbeknownst to Lisandro, Lola has a personal vendetta against wealthy media mogul Bixby Fairfax and sets her sights on the Coterie, his massive estate, as the venue for their next haunting. While Lisandro struggles to reconcile his growing attraction to the troubled Fairfax heir, the depths of Lola’s grudge against Bixby appear to be painfully transforming her flesh into leaves and vines. As the brother-sister duo delve into the origins surrounding the Fairfax family and the Coterie, they sink deeper into the secrets they keep from each other. Via lived-in-feeling and fully fleshed-out alternating perspectives, McLemore infuses a cathartic revenge tale with allusions to Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Nahuatl folklore. Balancing depictions of searing rage and the costs of unfettered greed against a gorgeously rendered backdrop enriched by instances of queer love and acceptance, lush prose and deft character writing intertwine for a spectacular offering. Ages 13–up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich, & Bourret. (May)