A dazzling collection of linked short stories about
womanhood, motherhood, marriage and transformation, in the vein of such
contemporary powerhouses as Carmen Maria Machado, Kelly Link and Samantha Hunt

“These are stories of magical lyricism, contemporary
in their exploration of the obsessions of girls and young women, mythic in
their scope and mystery…. Remarkable. The work of an exceptional writer.” —Joyce
Carol Oates

It begins with a drowning.

One day, Mr.
Arcilla, the romance-language teacher at Briarfield, an all-girls boarding
school, is found dead at the bottom of Reed Pond. Young and handsome, the
object of much fantasy and fascination, he was adored by his students. For
Lilith and Romy, Evie and Claire, and Nellie and Grace, he was their first
love, and their first true loss.

In this
extraordinary collection, Kate McQuade explores the ripple effect of one
transformative moment on six lives, witnessed at a different point in each
girl’s future. Throughout these stories, these bright, imaginative, and
ambitious girls mature into women, lose touch and call in favors, achieve
success and endure betrayal, marry and divorce, have children and struggle with
infertility, abandon husbands and remain loyal to the end.

Lyrical, intimate, and
incisive, Tell Me Who We Were explores the inner worlds of
girls and women, the relationships we cherish and betray, and the
transformations we undergo in the simple act of living.