Author Olivia Gatwood in conversation with Emma Bailey on Saturday, August 17 from 6:00 - 7:00 pm
A kind of Stepford Wives meets Grey Gardens for the age of artificial intelligence
On the Santa Cruz waterfront, every house is as flawless as the people inside—except for Mitty and her elderly roommate, Bethel. For ten years, Mitty has found refuge in their secluded existence after a traumatic adolescence. Now, they’re the oddball pair in the dilapidated bungalow, the last vestiges of a town taken over by the tech elite. But their lives are about to be irrevocably disrupted when a new couple, Lena and Sebastian, move in next door. Because on the quiet outskirts of Silicon Valley, nothing is off-limits, and what was once considered dystopia is now reality... Whoever You Are, Honey is gripping, seductive, and prescient as it dissects relationships between women, unpacks perfection and desirability, and explodes the intersection of passion, technology, and power.
Olivia Gatwood is a poet, novelist, and screenwriter from Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has received international recognition for her poetry, writing workshops, and work as a Title IX Compliant educator in sexual assault prevention and recovery. Her performances have been featured on HBO, HuffPost, MTV, VH1, and the BBC, and more. Her poems have appeared in The Poetry Foundation, Sundance Film Festival, Lambda Literary, and The Missouri Review. She is the author of two poetry collections and one novel. She lives in Ojai, California
Emma Bailey is the director of Bart’s Books events. You can find her in the courtyard in conversation with authors and readers and online with her newsletter10,000 Books. She has been a bookseller at Bart’s since 2015.
The conversation doesn’t need to end when our event does! Enjoy a free glass of wine at Sam's Place when you buy a book after our event. Stroll from our courtyard to theirs, located next to the tunnel between Ojai Avenue and the Arcade Plaza. At Sam's Place, their philosophy is simple: cook like it's for family (charcuterie, anyone?!) and pour like it's for friends.
Praise for Olivia Gatwood
“The twin themes of women’s loneliness and desire are the timeless beating hearts of Olivia Gatwood’s debut novel, propped up by of-the-moment ruminations on queerness and artificial intelligence.”—Vogue, “The Best Books of 2024 So Far”
“This debut, written with traces of Steinbeck and The Stepford Wives, is a meditative novel about femininity, friendship, and aging. . . . An erotic thriller.”—The New York Times Book Review
“[An] evocative work of speculative literary fiction . . . Its prescience continues to be more apparent with each new headline out of Silicon Valley.”—Elle, “Best New Books of Summer 2024”
“A literary page-turner exploring questions of technology, gender, obedience and intimacies amongst women . . .”—Chicago Review of Books
“Perfect for sweltering summer days that stretch into steamy nights, Olivia Gatwood’s Whoever You Are, Honey feels like a fever dream for the AI age.”—People
“Whoever You Are, Honey is a sensual, detail-rich, utterly immersive novel. So propulsive and atmospheric, and at times creepy, I never wanted to put it down and longed for its company when not turning the pages. . . .”—Jenny Mustard, YouTuber and author of Okay Days
“Whoever You Are, Honey reads like a thriller, but it’s also a tender and searching exploration of what it means to inhabit a female body.”—Kelly Link, author of The Book of Love
“Here’s a novel about the vastness of feeling and friendship—their unruliness a brilliant counterpoint to the glazed screens and aspirations of the modern world.”—Anna Metcalfe, author of Chrysalis
“Sharp, captivating, and apt—an intimate, pitch-perfect fable of the time, I immediately went back to the start.”—Yrsa Daley-Ward, author of The Terrible
“As lush and hypnotic as a dreampop album, this is an intoxicating debut about two women, each carrying a dark secret, who desire more than they’ve been allowed to want.”—Leigh Stein, author of Self Care
“Whoever You Are, Honey looks directly into the deep, dark depths of what makes us alive—and what sustains that life.”—Gabrielle Korn, author of Yours for the Taking
“Whoever You Are, Honey is a gripping, heartfelt novel—a moving exploration of unconventional friendships and the desire to be accepted and loved, not in spite of but because of our flaws.”—Kate Folk, author of Out There
“Whoever You Are, Honey is a brilliantly written exposé of the ubiquity and entanglement of the male and technological gazes, and the culture of loneliness and despondency they create.”—Ling Ling Huang, author of Natural Beauty
“Whoever You Are, Honey makes the familiar new; the everyday is made sensuous, rich, and jewel-bright.”—Claudia Cravens, author of Lucky Red
“The Stepford Wives for a new generation is finally here in this gripping, immersive, and uncanny novel.”—Jenny Fran Davis, author of Dykette