Significant Others

By Zoë Eisenberg

For fans of Sally Rooney and Dolly Alderton, a coming-of-age novel about two women who share an intimate, decades-long friendship. Now in their midthirties, they're forced to adjust to a dramatic life change that calls into question whether or not they're still the most important person to each other.

Jess and Ren have been best friends for half their lives at this point. They met freshman year of college and have been inseparable ever since: rooming together in the dorms, then an apartment, and now the house they co-own. They adopted a dog together, cook for one another, and offer as much care and support as the other needs. They are each other’s person.

Jess began her career as a real estate agent and now runs her own agency, even employing Ren’s brother Theo; she’s the more pragmatic of the two, “spontaneous” isn’t a word used to describe her. Ren, on the other hand, has been floating her way through life. She works as a fitness instructor and has been bartending at the same place for more than a decade. Things are stable, sure, with Jess there to guide her, but as she approaches her late thirties Ren is starting to wonder if there could be more. A one-night stand with a tourist leaves Ren pregnant, something that wasn’t part of either her or Jess’s plans. And when she decides to keep and raise the baby with the help of the father, both women are left wondering if this one more thing they’ll do together or if this will in fact change everything.