Coming July 6, 2021 in Canada
& February 2022 in U.S.
A propulsive psychological thriller that follows an aspiring model down a social media–fuelled rabbit hole of obsession, narcissism and self-destruction.
For nineteen-year-old Mickey, Instagram offers a tantalizing portal into the world she wishes she inhabited. Though beautiful, cunning and privileged, Mickey finds herself with a stalled modelling career, an escalating drinking problem, few friends and next to nothing in the bank. To numb her growing despair, she spends her days frantically refreshing her Instagram feed, obsessively tracking the movements of Insta-famous model Gemma Anton.
Gemma is a perfected version of Mickey, living a seemingly perfect life: a skyrocketing career, a famous photographer boyfriend and adoring followers—the life Mickey wants more than anything for herself. She studies every detail Gemma offers through the window of her phone, trying to absorb, learn, mimic, become the object of her growing fascination.
Then, a chance encounter thrusts Mickey into a world of opportunity, and she is met with surprising, and immediate, success. But as her online persona begins to take over her life, Mickey finds it increasingly difficult to separate reality from the facade of Instagram.
Engrossing, sharp and astute, Like Me is a shimmering portrait of infatuation, disconnection and identity in the digital age—and a dazzling introduction to a brilliant new voice in contemporary literature.
Advanced Praise
“Like Me by Hayley Phelan reads like both a harrowing portrayal of addiction and a smart, razor-sharp portrait of the Instagram age. Completely absorbing, deeply uncomfortable and impressively original, Phalen’s poignant novel of obsession, desperation, sexuality and identity will change how you think of the time we're living in.” —Ashley Audrain, New York Times bestselling author of The Push
“Hayley Phelan’s captivating debut Like Me, with its glittery influencers and Instagram stars, captures the way some now live their lives online. But her unforgettable heroine, Mickey Jones, suffers from the age-old abuses of women whose only weapons are youth and beauty—and a steadfast resolve not to die.” —Helen Schulman, New York Times bestselling author of Come with Me
“A dark and thrilling story of obsession, addiction and identity. In Hayley Phelan’s sharp debut we see the New York fashion world through the eyes of Mickey Jones, an aspiring nineteen-year-old model, and her story is both totally contemporary and utterly timeless.” —Harriet Alida Lye, author of The Honey Farm and Natural Killer
“Hayley Phelan’s Like Me is whip-smart and savage. Equal parts thriller and critique, this is an adrenaline shot of a novel.” —Katie Kitamura, author of A Separation
“Hayley Phelan’s Like Me is a raw and electrifying study of the mind, the body and what can happen when one loses control over the other. It is a fever dream—a horror story—that sits far too comfortably in our reality.” —An Yu, author of Braised Pork