Loved One

Most Anticipated Book of the Summer: New York Times Book Review, W Magazine, Oprah Daily, Conde Nast Traveler, Hollywood Reporter, the Boston Globe, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and The Millions

Best Book of 2025 So Far: Real Simple, Debutiful, Literary Hub

‘[Loved One] is special . . . full of wildly astute, delectably thorny questions about love and loss and possession.’ —Maggie Shipstead, New York Times bestselling author of Great Circle

From an Emmy Award–winning writer comes a funny, wise, heartbreaking story about a woman journeying into the unknown in the wake of sudden loss

When her first-love-turned-close-friend, Gabe, dies unexpectedly at twenty-nine, thirty-year-old Julia is launched into an intercontinental quest to recover his lost possessions. Her journey takes her from Los Angeles to London and into the murky realm of the past. It also sets Julia on a collision course with the last woman he loved, a guarded, self-possessed florist and restaurateur named Elizabeth, who insists on withholding Gabe’s beloved guitar—one of the departed indie rock musician’s dearest belongings—for reasons Julia can’t understand. Both women, it turns out, have something to hide, and soon find themselves engaged in a complex dance of withholding and revelation.

An emotional mystery spanning years, continents, and relationship statuses, Loved One introduces Aisha Muharrar as a novelist intimately attuned to the intricacies of love, memory, and ambiguous loss. What happens when we admit that the deepest feelings never die? How do we reconcile various—and sometimes contradictory—truths about those closest to us? An engrossing and profoundly moving coming-of-age story with a powerful love at its heart, Loved One is poised to become an instant classic.


Genre: Literary Fiction

"Loved One shimmers with wit even as it explores deep loss. What does it mean to love and lose? How do we undo - and make - each other? Aisha Muharrar asks enduring questions while acknowledging how funny they can be, too. This is a book I will be pressing, urgently, into the hands of my own loved ones." - Rachel Khong

"Loved One is special. This is the funniest book you'll ever read about grief, and it's full of wildly astute, delectably thorny questions about love and loss and possession." - Maggie Shipstead

"Warm-hearted, funny, and written with style and panache, Loved One is both wise and a pleasure to read. I tore through it, from page one until its moving final pages. A terrific novel." - Adelle Waldman

"Aisha Muharrar has written the type of book you don't just read, you consume. It's equal parts hilarious, poignant, and thrilling. I was so engrossed I forgot to pick my kids up from school, so I'm also mad at her." - Casey Wilson