Both Can Be True
- Judith D Collins
- May 20
- 16 min read
Updated: May 21
Narrators:Jessica Guerrier, Helen Laser,
Mia Hutchinson-Shaw, Rebecca Lowman ISBN: 9781400345984
Publisher: Harper Muse
Publictaion Date: 05/19/2026
Format: Paperback
My Rating: 5 Stars (ARC)
When a local mother goes missing, two estranged sisters are pulled back into each other’s lives and forced to confront old wounds, fractured trust, and the many ways a woman can disappear in plain sight.
Frankie is the funny one, full of restless energy and sharp edges, the sister who got sober, opened a bookstore, and slipped into a version of domestic life without ever fully confronting the past. Mere is the steady one, the caretaker, a mother quietly unraveling under the demands of her neurodivergent daughter and the loneliness of a marriage to a husband who sees the world through an entirely different lens.
For the Gilmore sisters, losing their mother to cancer at a young age gave them a brief window of closeness they’ve never been able to reclaim. But over the years, a mentally ill father, the unspoken trauma of sexual violence, and the different vices they turned to for survival fractured their bond and created a divide of resentment neither of them could bring themselves to cross. When a woman in Frankie’s social circle disappears, the sisters are pulled into a shared reckoning and can no longer deny the past that has shaped so much of their present.
Set against the backdrop of a quiet Northern California mountain town, this gripping and emotionally layered novel unfolds in alternating perspectives, revealing the many ways women vanish inside motherhood, addiction, marriage, and shame. Told with raw honesty and wry compassion, Jessica Guerrieri’s sophomore novel is a story of sisterhood, acceptance, the unspoken truths we carry, and the redemptive power of bridging pain into connection.
About the Author
Jessica Guerrieri is an award-winning novelist and essayist, and a proud sober mother of three daughters with over a decade of sobriety. She is the author of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Harper Muse, 2025), winner of the 2023 Maurice Prize for Fiction, and Both Can Be True (Harper Muse, 2026), a work of literary book club fiction. Her essays have appeared in People, HuffPost, and Writer’s Digest, and she is a frequent voice in the sobriety and mental health communities. She lives in Davis with her family and a small parade of pets.
Connect with her online at
Instagram: @jessicaguerrieriauthor
Substack: @jessicaguerrieriauthor
Jessica's Books
Exceptional Authors,
Standout Books. Elevator Talk.
BEHIND THE BOOK AND THE AUTHOR
The Jessica Guerrieri Edition
Welcome back to the lift, book lovers!
Today, we are taking a deeply moving trip to the top floor as the incredibly talented Jessica Guerrieri is stepping into the elevator to celebrate her stunning sophomore novel, Both Can Be True! Marking 8 years of our #AuthorElevatorSeries, I am thrilled to host this special #LitLiftMiniAuthorChat for an author whose debut, BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA, and her latest sophomore novel, BOTH CAN BE TRUE, absolutely captivated me, and whose brilliant Substack newsletter is an automatic must-read. As a proud partner featuring the phenomenal writers of Harper Muse, I am obsessed with how this story handles the raw, complex architecture of sisterhood and recovery.
Jessica, welcome to the ride!
📚 The "Book" Floors (About Both Can Be True)
🔘 The “Bookstore Sanctuary” Floor (Floor 1):
“Frankie copes with her past by opening a bookstore. If you had to drop everything tomorrow and open a highly specific, niche retail shop to hide from your adult responsibilities, what are we selling?”
JESSICA: Honestly, I already wrote Frankie owning a bookstore because it was the fantasy version of escapism for me.
I would absolutely be a cozy new-and-used bookstore somewhere in Northern California with the charm and character of The Avid Reader mixed with the cozy magic of Ruby's Books. Strong coffee, oversized couches, slightly chaotic stacks of staff picks, and employees whose only real qualification is being emotionally destroyed by literary fiction. Basically, a place people come to disappear for a little while and somehow leave feeling more like themselves. Which honestly is exactly what Frankie was trying to build too. 💚
🔘 The “Sister Summit” Floor (Floor 2):
“Meredith and Frankie are pulled back together by a local crisis. If you were trapped in an elevator with your own sibling, would you use the time to solve a family mystery, or would you immediately devolve into childhood bickering?”
JESSICA: If my sister and I were trapped in an elevator, we’d probably start by trying to solve the mystery and somehow end up arguing about something that happened in 1997 five minutes later. That’s the thing about sisters. The intimacy is immediate. So is the regression sometimes.
One of my favorite lines in BOTH CAN BE TRUE is: “You don’t just have a sister, you hold one, and you alone are responsible for her emotional custody.” I think that’s the emotional heartbeat of the book. Sisters know exactly how to love each other, but they also know exactly where the bruises are. There’s no relationship more capable of making you feel completely seen and completely undone in the same breath.
Which honestly makes my real-life sister being my conversation partner for my May 19 launch feel very on brand. 💚
🔘 The “Audio Dream Team” Floor (Floor 3):
“Your audiobook features an absolute powerhouse cast, including Helen Laser, Mia Hutchinson-Shaw, and Rebecca Lowman, alongside yourself! What was it like hearing these brilliant vocal artists bring the complex, distinct interior voices of your characters to life?”
JESSICA: We had a total pie-in-the-sky wishlist for narrators, the kind where you ask for people assuming maybe you’ll get one of them if you’re lucky. Somehow, unbelievably, I got every single voice actor I asked for.
Hearing Helen Laser, Mia Hutchinson-Shaw, and Rebecca Lowman bring these women to life honestly felt emotional in a way I wasn’t fully prepared for. Writing is such a solitary experience. These characters live in your head for years, quietly carrying their grief, humor, shame, longing, all of it. Then suddenly someone else understands them deeply enough to give them breath and cadence and vulnerability.
What felt especially surreal is that I literally listened to Heart the Lover, which was one of my favorite reads last year because Lily King is a literary genius, while I was on book tour for BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA. Rebecca Lowman’s voice was in my ears while I was doing final edits for BOTH CAN BE TRUE. So to then have her become the voice of Mere feels incredibly full circle to me.
There were moments listening where I genuinely forgot I wrote the scenes because the performances added emotional dimensions I didn’t even consciously know were there yet. It made the whole experience feel less like adaptation and more like collaboration in the truest sense.
🔘 The “Sophomore Surge” Floor (Floor 5):
“Having thoroughly devoured your incredible debut, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, how did the writing process for Both Can Be True differ from your first book? Did Meredith and Frankie cooperate better with your outline, or did they completely hijack the script?”
JESSICA: Oh, Meredith and Frankie absolutely hijacked the script. 😂
My debut, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, was so deeply tied to my lived experience with addiction and motherhood that writing it often felt like excavation. I was uncovering emotional truth as I went. With BOTH CAN BE TRUE, I wanted to push myself much further as a novelist structurally, thematically, and psychologically. It’s still emotionally personal, but it required holding multiple women, marriages, perspectives, and secrets at once in a much more layered way.
I also think sophomore books come with a very specific psychological challenge because suddenly you’re no longer just writing in private. You’re writing while aware people may actually read the thing. 😂 There’s a vulnerability to that which can get very loud if you let it.
But Meredith and Frankie became incredibly real to me very quickly, especially in the ways they misunderstood each other while still loving each other fiercely. I’d outline scenes thinking I knew exactly where the emotional center was, and then one of them would completely redirect it because the truest version of the moment turned out to be something messier or more uncomfortable than what I originally planned.
Which honestly is usually how I know I’m writing toward something real.
🔘 The "Final Floor"
“You have five seconds before the elevator doors open—what is the one lingering emotion or profound realization you want a reader to sit with the exact second they close your book?”
JESSICA: There’s a quote often repeated in recovery spaces that says, “The opposite of addiction is connection,” and I think that truth extends far beyond substance abuse. Isolation is where shame grows. It’s where women disappear from themselves, from each other, from their marriages, their bodies, their identities.
Both Can Be True is ultimately a novel about the courage it takes to turn back toward one another anyway. Toward your sister. Your partner. Your children. Yourself. Even after disappointment. Even after misunderstanding. Even after hurt.
More than anything, I want readers to close the book feeling a little less alone inside the complicated parts of being human.
🔘 The “5-Second” Exit:
“The elevator doors are opening; what’s the one word you hope a reader posts on their feed when they finish the final page?”
JESSICA: Connection
👤 The "Author" Floors (About You)
🔘 The “Substack Secret” Floor:
“Your newsletters are absolutely fascinating and beautifully written! What is your favorite part about connecting with readers through long-form, intimate newsletter writing versus the fast chaos of social media grids?”
JESSICA: Honestly, I love that Substack lets me sound like my full actual self. Social media can feel so fast and performative sometimes, whereas long-form writing gives me room for nuance, humor, contradiction, vulnerability, all the things I’m most interested in as a writer.
I actually started a mom blog twelve years ago when my oldest daughter was born called Wit and Spit Up because I was so completely perplexed by motherhood. 😂 I loved my children deeply, but I also found motherhood overwhelming, isolating, identity-altering, and honestly absurd at times. Humor became survival for me.
Especially in sobriety. I needed a way to metabolize the chaos without drowning in it.
That’s still very much how I write now. Even in my heaviest work, there’s usually humor threaded through it because I think that’s how women actually survive hard things. We laugh in the middle of the breakdown. We text our friends something inappropriate from the bathroom floor. We make meaning out of overwhelm.
Substack gives me space to tell the fuller version of the story instead of reducing everything to a square graphic and a caption. It feels much more like sitting across from readers having an actual conversation, which I really love. 💚
And yes, shameless plug: follow me on Substack @jessicaguerrieriauthor. 😂
🔘 The "Secret History" Floor:
"If you weren't a celebrated author crafting gorgeous, emotionally raw contemporary fiction, what unexpected, secret dream career would you be pursuing right now?"
JESSICA: Honestly, I think I would probably be a relationship coach for adults on the spectrum, particularly couples trying to navigate the emotional translation gap that can happen when two people love each other deeply but communicate and experience the world very differently. My background is actually in special education, so this has long been an area of deep personal and professional interest to me.
A huge thread in my work, especially in BOTH CAN BE TRUE, is the idea that love can absolutely exist inside misunderstanding. That sometimes people are offering devotion in a language their partner doesn’t naturally recognize. I’m endlessly fascinated by the ways neurodivergence impacts marriage, intimacy, parenting, conflict, emotional labor, and loneliness, especially in long-term relationships where both people can quietly start believing they’re failing each other when really they’re speaking different emotional dialects.
I think part of why I’m drawn to writing complicated marriages is because I genuinely love helping people feel more understood by one another. Honestly, most conflict inside relationships isn’t lack of love. It’s misinterpretation. And I’m very interested in the moment people realize the person across from them may have been loving them all along, just in a way they weren’t trained to recognize.
🔘 The “One Item” Floor:
"The elevator is completely stuck—what’s the one thing in your bag you can’t live without for the next hour?"
JESSICA: Audiobooks. Absolutely audiobooks.
I use them constantly as a tool while I’m writing because I’m endlessly inspired by other writers’ narrative voices and the intimacy of being told a story out loud. There’s something about hearing language performed that reconnects me to rhythm and emotional truth in a way nothing else does.
For a long time, especially when I was younger and using substances, I confused altered states with creativity. I thought the drugs were the thing making me a writer. Then I’d go back and read what I wrote and it was mostly unusable, disconnected, nonsensical drivel masquerading as depth.
After my relapse during the pandemic involving prescription pills and THC, audiobooks became part of what grounded me back into storytelling itself. They reminded me the magic was never the substances.
After my relapse during the pandemic involving prescription pills and THC, audiobooks became part of what grounded me back into storytelling itself. They reminded me the magic was never the substances. The magic was always the human connection of someone saying, “Let me tell you a story,” and another person being willing to listen.
🔘 Floor “Override”:
"If you could skip any part of the publication journey—the grueling first draft, the line edits, or the launch-week marketing push—which floor are we bypassing today?"
JESSICA: The hurry-up-and-wait portion of publishing. Without question. 😂
Publishing is this bizarre emotional whiplash where you spend years alone writing a book, then suddenly everything becomes urgent all at once. Edit this by Friday. Turn this around overnight. Record this. Approve this. Post this. Revise this. And then… silence.
You’re constantly waiting for responses, waiting for sales numbers, waiting for reviews, waiting to see if readers connect, waiting to learn whether the thing you spent years making will actually survive in the world. And we already know I do not do well in the unknown spaces. I literally write entire books about women trying to survive uncertainty and emotional ambiguity.
I actually love drafting and revisions because that’s the creative part. Even line edits feel intimate to me, like sharpening emotional truth. But the psychological limbo of publishing can be brutal because so much of it exists completely outside your control.
Which honestly is probably why writers immediately start another book. It’s the only place where uncertainty turns back into agency.
🔘 Elevator “Guest” Twist:
“If this elevator got stuck between floors, which legendary author—past or present—would you most want as a captive audience so you could talk shop or collaborate?”
JESSICA: Barbara Kingsolver without question. I would happily get trapped in an elevator with her for hours. 😂
The way she wrote Demon Copperhead and captured addiction absolutely leveled me. There’s such profound compassion in her work without ever losing complexity or accountability, which is incredibly hard to do honestly. As someone in recovery, I felt deeply understood by that book.
And then learning that she used proceeds from her Pulitzer Prize win to help create a recovery center somehow made me admire her even more because it reflects exactly what I believe art can do at its best. Take suffering and turn it into connection, visibility, resources, hope.
I also just think she has one of those rare minds I’d love to sit inside for a while. The emotional intelligence, the social awareness, the observational detail, the humanity. I imagine talking with her would feel less like networking and more like being handed a flashlight inside the darkest and most beautiful parts of being human.
Thank you, Jessica, for spending time with us today.
A fun ride getting to know you a little better and your new novel, Both Can Be True.
Available Now!
Readers. grab your copy of BOTH CAN BE TRUE today, available where all books are sold in paperback, e-book, and audio formats by Harper Muse (Narrators: Jessica Guerrier, Helen Laser, Mia Hutchinson-Shaw, and Rebecca Lowman). BUY THE BOOK
Praise
Both Can Be True is a beautifully written story of love, redemption, and resilience. Guerrieri explores what it takes to survive, and to thrive, and at what cost to ourselves and to the ones we love. A compassionate tale told bravely and honestly that will make many feel seen and understood.'
-- Amy Neff, international bestselling author of The Days I Loved You Most
'It's a rare novel that tells the hardest truths about motherhood and the reasons so many women feel a need to escape, even when they fiercely love their children--and Both Can Be True is that rare and bold novel. In prose that took my breath away, Guerrieri explores the bonds of sisterhood and friendship between women with an unflinching and generous eye, while also shining a light on the darkness of addiction and sexual assault. By turns devastating and transcendent, Both Can Be True had me turning pages late into the night.'
-- Kerri Maher, USA TODAY bestselling author of All You Have to Do Is Call
'Jessica Guerrieri is a wonderful writer, and this novel is an exquisite examination of sisters, motherhood, and marriage. Both Can Be True is interested in what can and can't be repaired in our lives, and the grace we can choose to give ourselves and others along the way. Superb.'
-- Annie Hartnett, author of the bestselling novel The Road to Tender Heart
“Jessica Guerrieri’s Both Can Be True embraces the contradictions that we live every day, encouraging us to find our most authentic selves at the intersection of what we know and what we imagine. This tender, lyrical exploration of motherhood, sisterhood, friendship, and mentorship invites us to wonder: What would become of these possible worlds if I chose to be someone different? What does it mean to escape? An immersive, moving read for anyone who understands that we can long for more even while feeling overwhelmed and that holding each other’s grief can be the purest form of love.”
— Rebecca N. Thompson
My Review
A 'Quiet Forested Vibe' with Heavy Impact “A visceral, soulful reckoning delivered with the precision of a poet and the heart of a survivor.”
Jessica Guerrieri (a favorite) returns following Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea with her latest emotionally charged sophomore novel, BOTH CAN BE TRUE. A poignant, introspective, and unflinching domestic drama that feels like a quiet walk through a foggy forest—heavy with a sense of "something missing" but grounded by a steady, hard-won hope.
A mother vanished. A sisterhood fractured. A past that refuses to stay buried.
Highlights...
Elevator Pitch: When a local mother goes missing, two estranged Gilmore sisters are forced back together to confront the trauma and addiction that fractured their family.
Intro: Jessica Guerrieri's sophomore novel is a "quiet in tone but heavy in impact" exploration of the many ways a woman can disappear in plain sight.
Setting: A quiet Northern California mountain town, providing a perfectly atmospheric and "grounded" backdrop for a deeply personal story.
Theme: Focuses on the "redemptive power of bridging pain into connection" while exploring motherhood, addiction, generational and shared trauma, contradictions, the complexity of recovery, and the fragile bonds of sisterhood.
True repair comes from the grace we choose to give ourselves and others along the way. Life is rarely black and white; accepting that "both can be true" (e.g., love and pain) is essential for growth.
Vibe: Atmospheric, raw, emotional, and deeply human.
Characters: Frankie is a restless bookstore owner with 10 years of sobriety; Mere is a caretaker quietly unraveling while parenting a neurodivergent toddler.
Standout Features: The raw, authentic portrayal of addiction and recovery, written with the "warmth and understanding" of the author's own life experiences.
Author Writing: Superb, lyrical, atmospheric writing that finds the high-definition truth in the quietest moments. Guerrieri’s prose is a masterclass in holding the jagged and the beautiful in the same breath.
Metaphor: A fractured mirror—reflecting two different versions of the same history that only regain clarity when brought back together.
Takeaway: A poignant reminder that we can be "multiple, conflicting things at once" and still be deserving of compassion and grace. Someone can love their family while simultaneously feeling destroyed by the demands. A recurring philosophy in her work is that contradictions—like love and loss or desperation and hope—coexist, simultaneously.
Title Significance: Refers to the "conflicting emotional truths" women carry—how someone can fiercely love their children while simultaneously feeling a desperate need to escape.
Resolution of Identity: The narrative, told through alternating perspectives, explores the redemptive power of connection as the sisters begin to accept the unspoken truths they have carried since childhood.
Why You Should Read: Essential for fans of character-driven fiction who appreciate "flawless" procedural details paired with "breath-taking" prose of the female experience. An ideal book club pick.
“Guerrieri’s prose is a masterclass in holding the jagged and the beautiful in the same breath.”
My Thoughts...
Guerrieri possesses a "truly incredible" gift, the ability to write characters that feel so real you forget they are fictional. While the "missing person" mystery provides the initial hook, the real heart of the book is the "tumultuous" relationship between Frankie and Mere as they navigate their difficult childhood. It's a "masterclass" in showing how womanhood often involves "vanishing" behind roles like wife or caregiver until you barely recognize yourself.
Having thoroughly devoured both the gorgeous print book and the spectacular, immersive audio production, I can confidently say Guerrieri has delivered a masterpiece. Being auto-approved with HarperMuse, I always expect a brilliant bridge between historical depth and contemporary resonance, but this look at the Gilmore sisters blew me away. It is honest, complex, and a triumphant step forward for an author I will proudly champion for years to come.
Verdict: 5/5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "A stunning, deeply intelligent exploration of sisterhood and survival that will dominate book club lists this year. Beautiful contradictions and the weight of two conflicting emotions—like joy and grief or struggle and strength that will keep you turning until the final pages."
Jessica Guerrieri's writing is marked by a striking authenticity that draws readers in with its profound emotional intricacy. She skillfully explores the often-overlooked "quiet unraveling" of women's experiences within the confines of domestic life, capturing the subtle yet powerful moments of vulnerability and resilience.
Her prose is both poignant and exquisite, weaving together delicate imagery and evocative language to illuminate the complexities of human relationships. Through her work, Guerrieri seeks to dismantle the pervasive shame that often accompanies addiction and the weight of generational trauma, inviting readers to reflect on the deeper narratives that shape our lives.
~Lyrical precision met with a gut-level honesty.
~Atmospheric prose that breathes with a quiet, devastating grace.
~A masterclass in the quiet power of the unspoken.
~Resilient. Superb. Soulful. Sharply observed.
~An immersive pairing of Grit and Grace.
~Exquisite writing that turns the heaviest grief into gold.
Recs:
If you loved this, try Guerrieri's debut, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. Also for fans of authors, Jodi Picoult, Lisa Genova, Joyce Maynard, Elizabeth Strout, Celeste Ng, Liane Moriarty, T. Greenwood, Sally Hepworth, Elizabeth Berg, Laurie Frankel, and Claire Lombardo.
Author's Note:
Guerrieri's writing style is deeply intertwined with her background as an advocate for addiction recovery and her experiences in motherhood, as indicated in her insightful and thoughtful Author's Note, providing an even more authentic experience. Guerrieri describes her own storytelling as a way to "metabolize" life's challenges, transforming grief into something "we can carry" rather than just escaping it. Her background in essay writing on sobriety and motherhood informs a narrative voice that is both compassionate and authoritative regarding recovery. Highly recommend subscribing to her insightful newsletter on Substack.
~Visceral & Guttural
~Lyrical yet Grounded
~Exquisite & Unflinching
Both Can Be True is a powerhouse in its emotional weight and the incredible full-cast narration.
Audio Standout 🎧
I had the pleasure of reading the book and listening to the audio version. Experience a profound emotional journey with the captivating audio version of this story, featuring a Full Cast Performance by (the author) Jessica Guerrieri, Helen Laser, Mia Hutchinson-Shaw, and Rebecca Lowman. Their dymanite collaboration transforms Frankie and Mere’s dual perspectives into an immersive experience.
Each mother’s unique voice adds a "visceral layer of intimacy," creating a connection that a single narrator can't match. This performance feels less like a traditional audiobook and more like an “immersive audio documentary,” making long drives an engaging exploration of deep emotions and insights.
The Author's Work
Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea
Reading both Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea and Both Can Be True offers a complete look at Jessica Guerrieri's exploration of "vanishing" women and the complexities of long-term recovery. While both books tackle the heavy intersections of motherhood and addiction, they offer contrasting perspectives on the timeline of healing. VIEW MORE.
Special thanks to Harper Muse and NetGalley for graciously sharing an advanced reading and listening copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: May 19, 2026
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