A BELLETRIST BOOK CLUB PICK
“Halperin’s radiant second novel walks the fine line between the longing for couplehood and the torture of codependency. . . . Let the rapturous intimacy and gut-churning ups and downs begin!” —Leigh Haber, The New York Times Book Review
By the award-winning author of Something Wild, a gripping portrait of a tumultuous, consuming relationship between a young woman and a recovering addict
When Leah Kempler meets Charlie Nelson in line at the grocery store, their attraction is immediate and intense. Charlie, with his big feelings and grand proclamations of love, captivates her completely. But there are peculiarities of his life—he’s older than her but lives with his parents; he meets up with a friend at odd hours of the night; he sleeps a lot and always seems to be coming down with something. He confesses that he’s a recovering heroin addict, but he promises Leah that he’s never going to use again.
Leah's friends and family are concerned. As she finds herself getting deeper into an isolated relationship, one of manipulation and denial, the truth about Charlie feels as blurry as their time together. Even when Charlie’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic, when he starts to make Leah feel unsafe, she can’t help but feel that what exists between them is destined. Charlie is wide open, boyish, and unbearably handsome. The bounds of Leah’s own pain—and love—are so deep that she can’t see him spiraling into self-destruction.
Hanna Halperin writes with aching vulnerability and intimacy, sharply attuned to Leah’s desire for an all-consuming, compulsive connection. I Could Live Here Forever exposes the chasm between perception and truth to tell an intoxicating story of one woman’s relationship with an addict, the accompanying swirl of compassion and codependence, and her enduring search for love and wholeness.
Genre: Literary Fiction
“Halperin’s radiant second novel walks the fine line between the longing for couplehood and the torture of codependency. . . . Let the rapturous intimacy and gut-churning ups and downs begin!” —Leigh Haber, The New York Times Book Review
By the award-winning author of Something Wild, a gripping portrait of a tumultuous, consuming relationship between a young woman and a recovering addict
When Leah Kempler meets Charlie Nelson in line at the grocery store, their attraction is immediate and intense. Charlie, with his big feelings and grand proclamations of love, captivates her completely. But there are peculiarities of his life—he’s older than her but lives with his parents; he meets up with a friend at odd hours of the night; he sleeps a lot and always seems to be coming down with something. He confesses that he’s a recovering heroin addict, but he promises Leah that he’s never going to use again.
Leah's friends and family are concerned. As she finds herself getting deeper into an isolated relationship, one of manipulation and denial, the truth about Charlie feels as blurry as their time together. Even when Charlie’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic, when he starts to make Leah feel unsafe, she can’t help but feel that what exists between them is destined. Charlie is wide open, boyish, and unbearably handsome. The bounds of Leah’s own pain—and love—are so deep that she can’t see him spiraling into self-destruction.
Hanna Halperin writes with aching vulnerability and intimacy, sharply attuned to Leah’s desire for an all-consuming, compulsive connection. I Could Live Here Forever exposes the chasm between perception and truth to tell an intoxicating story of one woman’s relationship with an addict, the accompanying swirl of compassion and codependence, and her enduring search for love and wholeness.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"I Could Live Here Forever is a gripping novel about the ways we try to be the best versions of ourselves, and pull each other back from collapse. With careful prose, lush descriptions, and skilled character insight, Hanna Halperin gives readers a stunning story that changes the way we see the people around us." - Ethan Joella
"With an attention to intimate detail that is both unflinching and compassionate, Hanna Halperin conjures full, complex characters who challenged my understanding of the relationship between love and harm. I devoured this in a day." - Naomi Krupitsky
"I was intensely moved by I Could Live Here Forever - I read it in one day and finished sobbing, feeling that I and the author and her beautifully rendered characters had all been through something profound together. Leah's relationship with Charlie is drawn with unsparing, unpretty candour which is constantly undercut by moments of dazzling tenderness - this book acts as a kind of vivid, devastating answer to the often heard question 'How could you stay with a person like that?' Halperin's desire and ability to so deeply consider the lives in her book became as affecting to me as the story itself, creating the sort of author-reader intimacy rarely found but always prized. I will remember and re-read this gorgeous, emotionally intelligent, truly beautiful book often." - Megan Nolan
"Brutal, beautiful, unputdownable, I Could Live Here Forever is a dark romance that reads almost like a thriller and captures the emotional complexity of life in the twenty-first century. I loved it." - Joanna Rakoff
"A superb, uncynical novel about the innocence of unsustainable love - a wonderfully haunting and memorable book." - Joan Silber
"A stark, beautiful novel about the risk and intoxication of obsessive love and a young woman's need to be needed. Hanna Halperin makes you feel her heroine's hunger in every action and hesitation. Even as I feared for Leah, Halperin's writing made it impossible to look away. You won't be able to put this book down." - Alyssa Songsiridej
"I was immediately gripped by Hanna Halperin's stunning novel, I Could Live Here Forever. With a frank assuredness reminiscent of Sally Rooney and Emma Cline, Halperin balances a close lens over both the anxiety and hopefulness of the Millennial viewpoint, bringing so much that has come to define the generation - the opioid crisis, economic and occupational precarity, the uncanny intensity of intimacy expressed on a smartphone - into stark relief. I felt so much heartbreak and fear and frustration for Leah and Charlie, whose love affair was as irresistible to me as it seemed to the characters themselves. This is a book that will stay with readers, and make them feel alive." - Liv Stratman
"With an attention to intimate detail that is both unflinching and compassionate, Hanna Halperin conjures full, complex characters who challenged my understanding of the relationship between love and harm. I devoured this in a day." - Naomi Krupitsky
"I was intensely moved by I Could Live Here Forever - I read it in one day and finished sobbing, feeling that I and the author and her beautifully rendered characters had all been through something profound together. Leah's relationship with Charlie is drawn with unsparing, unpretty candour which is constantly undercut by moments of dazzling tenderness - this book acts as a kind of vivid, devastating answer to the often heard question 'How could you stay with a person like that?' Halperin's desire and ability to so deeply consider the lives in her book became as affecting to me as the story itself, creating the sort of author-reader intimacy rarely found but always prized. I will remember and re-read this gorgeous, emotionally intelligent, truly beautiful book often." - Megan Nolan
"Brutal, beautiful, unputdownable, I Could Live Here Forever is a dark romance that reads almost like a thriller and captures the emotional complexity of life in the twenty-first century. I loved it." - Joanna Rakoff
"A superb, uncynical novel about the innocence of unsustainable love - a wonderfully haunting and memorable book." - Joan Silber
"A stark, beautiful novel about the risk and intoxication of obsessive love and a young woman's need to be needed. Hanna Halperin makes you feel her heroine's hunger in every action and hesitation. Even as I feared for Leah, Halperin's writing made it impossible to look away. You won't be able to put this book down." - Alyssa Songsiridej
"I was immediately gripped by Hanna Halperin's stunning novel, I Could Live Here Forever. With a frank assuredness reminiscent of Sally Rooney and Emma Cline, Halperin balances a close lens over both the anxiety and hopefulness of the Millennial viewpoint, bringing so much that has come to define the generation - the opioid crisis, economic and occupational precarity, the uncanny intensity of intimacy expressed on a smartphone - into stark relief. I felt so much heartbreak and fear and frustration for Leah and Charlie, whose love affair was as irresistible to me as it seemed to the characters themselves. This is a book that will stay with readers, and make them feel alive." - Liv Stratman
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