At the very beginning, I wasn’t yet thinking about social media or self-help or even about the book’s emotional stakes - all I had was a small plot device (that I can’t reveal here because I don’t want to spoil anything for readers). KATIE TAMOLA: Can you talk to me about how you landed on the vision for this novel? Were you inspired by certain trends/realities?īETH MORGAN: The book actually changed a lot as I wrote it, and what you could call the vision only emerged gradually. Shondaland caught up with Morgan to discuss the inspirations for her new novel, loneliness in romantic relationships, and the idea of disparate personal journeys. The result is a timely and modern examination of how our ideas around our happiness often help or hinder our own journeys of self-actualization. But when Alicia and Remy find themselves on a weekend trip with Jen and her intense and glamorous crowd, things go from strange to absolutely uncomfortable to downright terrifying. Remy and Alicia are absolutely obsessed with Jen: where she’s going, who she’s hanging out with, what she’s wearing. One love/obsession they share, however? The social-media presence of Jen, one of Remy’s old coworkers who has somehow become the freakish foundation for their shaky romantic relationship. They are the kind of couple everyone can’t help but judge because they seem like they don’t really like each other all that much. In a biting, smart, and challenging novel, Morgan - a Sarah Lawrence writing graduate who is also working on her MFA from Brooklyn College - introduces readers to Remy and Alicia. But Beth Morgan, author of the debut novel A Touch of Jen, is here to remind us. We often seem to forget that with social media, things are rarely what they seem.

Beth morgan a touch of jen