Search History
A Novel
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
“Curious about a new guy, Ana falls into a social media sinkhole when she sees her predecessor: gorgeous, blonde, and dead. . . . This propulsive debut will give you chills.”—People (Best Books Fall 2023)
“A serious blend of Fleabag and Rebecca with the pulse of modern-day existence.”—Weike Wang, author of Joan Is Okay
Can you scroll your way to the truth?
After Ana flees to Melbourne in the wake of a breakup, all she has to show for herself is an unfulfilling job and one particularly questionable dating app experience. Then she meets Evan: the old-fashioned way, at a bar. Charming, kind, and responsible, Evan is a complete deviation from her usual type. Ana tries to let their relationship unfold IRL, but she can’t resist the urge to find him online. When she discovers that his previous girlfriend died in a hit-and-run, Ana begins to worry that she’s living in the shadow of his lost love. The more Ana learns about Evan’s past, the more questions she has: Was his last relationship as perfect as it looks online? And why won’t he talk about it?
Perceptive and original, full of both pathos and humor, Search History explores the uncertainties of twenty-first-century romance. Ana’s journey down the internet rabbit hole of modern dating asks the question: Which is our “true” self—the one we should to the world online, or the one we keep to ourselves?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Taylor's astute debut follows one young woman trying (and failing) to pursue a relationship unburdened by online baggage. Following a significant breakup, 29-year-old Ana relocates from Perth, Australia, but her fresh start in Melbourne is not going well. Her UX design work leaves her unfulfilled ("my job basically amounts to figuring out how many pop-ups I can force on a person before they leave a webpage"), and she deletes all her dating apps after an unpleasant sexual encounter. Seeking romance IRL is much easier than she'd expected, however; Evan, whom she meets at a bar, is handsome, successful, and thoughtful. When Ana scrolls through her new beau's social media feeds, however, she learns his last serious girlfriend, a nearly perfect yoga instructor named Emily, died in a hit-and-run accident. Ana develops an online obsession with Emily, which compounds her own insecurities and threatens to derail her relationship with Evan. Though the lively pacing gets bogged down with heavy-handed broadcasting of themes and morals in the closing pages, the portrayal of Ana's compulsive online sleuthing and accompanying self-loathing is funny, keenly observed, and, at times, painfully relatable. Taylor's willingness to hold up a mirror to cringe-worthy impulses make her a writer to keep tabs on.
