We Were the Universe

A wrenchingly honest novel, full of dark wit and feral delight, about a new mother navigating the trippy, uncharted wilderness between love and grief * Jenny Offill, author of Weather *With psychological perspicuity and psychedelic inventiveness, Kimberly King Parsons reveals the shapeshifting nature of grief, the wiliness of desire, the fluidity of linear time, and the truth that what begs to be felt will always find a way to be felt. * Melissa Broder, author of Death Valley *To read Kimberly King Parsons is to fall in love with the world and all its absurdities. We Were the Universe is horny, wickedly funny, brutal in its exploration of motherhood and loss, the difficulty of keeping yourself from living in the past. At its core though, Parsons’ debut is achingly tender, beautiful and comforting in its assertion that coming of age is a lifelong process. * Jean Kyoung Frazier, author of Pizza Girl *Sexy, exuberant, hilarious, and deep, We Were the Universe is a page-turning voyage into the churning waters of early motherhood and lurking grief. Utterly breathtaking to the final moment. * Chelsea Bieker, author of Godshot *We Were the Universe is a grief-and-lust-and-breastmilk saturated psychedelic journey, a story told in the eternal present of an acid trip and the spiralling everyday life of a young Texan mother, pushing her daughter’s stroller around an unspeakable loss. This novel is a tonal masterpiece, a record I want to spin forever, and I feel so lucky that I can return to its deep magic. * Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia! *Witty… Singular… Entertaining. The ride could not be more rewarding; Parsons’s transgressive boldness allows us to feel the soul in places that moderation simply cannot reach… She has gifted us with a profound, gutsy tale of grief’s dismantling power * New York Times *Hilarious, profane, and profound all at once… Horny and haunted… Parsons has written one of my favourite short story collections ever, and now one of my favourite novels * Vanity Fair *

Kimberly King Parsons won the 2020 National Magazine Award for fiction. Her debut collection, Black Light (2019), was longlisted for the National Book Award and the Story Prize, and her fiction has been published in The Paris Review. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her partner and children. We Were the Universe is her first novel.