Dandelion Is Dead

In this charming debut, a London woman catfishes her dead sister’s Hinge match. Photographer Poppy Greene, 37, finds an intriguing message on the phone left behind by her sister, Dandelion, who died several months earlier, from a man named Jake. Despite having a live-in boyfriend, Sam, Poppy replies to Jake and sets up a date. When they meet, their attraction is instant, but Poppy isn’t sure if Jake likes her or her persona, which is part spontaneous Dandelion and part her more boring self, who always lived in Dandelion’s shadow. While Jake is smitten, he’s dealing with demons of his own, such as guilt over his past infidelity and abandonment issues from childhood. It turns out a colleague at Jake’s advertising agency used to date Dandelion, and when he tells Jake about Dandelion’s wild past, Jake figures out he’s dating Poppy, not Dandelion, breaks it off, and blocks her, prompting Poppy to try to patch things up with Sam. But as Poppy continues to flip-flop from Sam to Jake, the lies stack up on both sides, and both must figure out how to be honest with each other and with themselves. Storey handily balances the heavy themes of grief and trauma with snappy wit and intriguing character development. It adds up to a moving and wildly entertaining tale of self-discovery. Agent: Jemima Forrester, David Higham Assoc. (Jan.)