Fair Ones: A Double Novel

Lydia Millet's dialogue-driven, fast-moving double novel Fair Ones follows two Brooklyn women in their forties reeling from the sudden and baffling death of their friend Claire. Fair, Mara's account, opens in the wake of initial shock as she and Jen come to grips with the enigma of Claire's killing. Ones, told from Jen's point of view, picks up a year later as she and Mara wrestle with new relationships and old secrets.

In this vibrant, funny-sad fiction of companionship and solitude, Millet dazzles with dry wit and sharp prose. The narrators' inner and outer conversations, and their ongoing entanglement with the memory of Claire, explore the ways we create and define ourselves through others. Fair Ones is a love song to the intricate annoyances of families both chosen and unchosen--and to the banality, bombast, and humble beauties of midlife friendships.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 10/06/2026
ISBN: 9781324123675
Pages: 384

Review Citations: Library Journal 08/01/2026 pg. 69
Kirkus Reviews 08/01/2026
Shelf Awareness 01/01/0001