True Story: this genre-defying novel marks the arrival of a powerful new literary voice
by Kate Reed Petty· 2021
Revolving around an inconclusive case of assault, this novel explores the nature of trauma and truth through a cast of characters and experimentation with form.
After a college party, two boys drive a girl home: drunk and passed out in the back seat. Rumours spread about what they did to her, but later they'll tell the police a different version of events. Alice will never remember what truly happened. Her fracture runs deep, hidden beneath cleverness and wry humour. Nick - a boy who stood by - will never forget.
Through university applications, an abusive relationship, a reckoning with addiction and a final twist, Alice and Nick will take on different roles to each other - some real, some invented - until finally, brought face to face once again, the secret of that night is revealed.
True Story is by turns a campus novel, psychological thriller, horror story and crime noir, each narrative frame stripping away the fictions we tell about women, men and the very nature of truth.
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Revolving around an inconclusive case of assault, this novel explores the nature of trauma and truth through a cast of characters and experimentation with form. After a college party, two boys drive a girl home: drunk and passed out in the back seat. Rumours spread about what they did to her, but later they'll tell the police a different version of events. Alice will never remember what truly happened. Her fracture runs deep, hidden beneath cleverness and wry humour. Nick - a boy who stood by - will never forget. Through university applications, an abusive relationship, a reckoning with addiction and a final twist, Alice and Nick will take on different roles to each other - some real, some invented - until finally, brought face to face once again, the secret of that night is revealed. True Story is by turns a campus novel, psychological thriller, horror story and crime noir, each narrative frame stripping away the fictions we tell about women, men and the very nature of truth.