Here Is a Game We Could Play – A Novel

"Capturing just how much belonging shapes a person, in its absence as much as its presence, the novel strains between those two poles; like any true connection, it is a 'terrible and beautiful thing.'" * Foreword Reviews, starred review *
"The fast pace, visceral imagery, and endlessly endearing protagonist make this book a must-read for fans of Alissa Nutting and Melissa Broder." * Booklist *
 “Here Is a Game We Could Play is a tour de force, a swirl of fantasies within a scaffolding of obsession, insecurity, poisoning, loneliness, longing, and humiliation, all layered over the complex trilogy of food-sex-death and the narrator’s fear of each. . . . Bitner’s language is beautifully wrought (but not overwrought). Her debut is highly imaginative in its form and framing, yet deftly controlled. Here Is a Game We Could Play stands, in the end, as a critique of pure honesty." * PopMatters *
"Tender, yearning, and dangerously imagined. . .  A book to pluck you out of your cage and reintroduce you to the wild.” * Ben Loory, author of "Tales of Falling and Flying" *
"Here Is a Game We Could Play is a piercing and poignant novel with an unforgettable narrator. A haunting debut." * Vanessa Hua, author of "A River of Stars" *
"This is a beautiful and deeply honest book. Claudia is that innocent voice lost inside each of us, the one that speaks the truth about the unknowable weirdness of our desires. I loved her and I cheered for her on every page." * Rachel Howard, author of "The Risk of Us" *
"Smart and playful, candid and inventive, this debut novel set in the 1990s brims with desire and unexpected plot twists. I fell deeply in love with the main character. As a child, Claudia liked to spend time in her closet. Now, as a 23-year-old, she feels confined in the small Pennsylvania steel town where she was born. She isn't particularly interested in boys or babies. Is she a lesbian? She's not sure. The label, any label, seems too confining for her. Elaborate sexual fantasies become Claudia's secret super-power: they allow her to seek pleasure outside the narrow heteronormative model, and to build relationships to her own taste. Claudia embodies a long-standing feminist dream of empowerment and liberation, and yes, there's a darker side to her story too." * Olga Zilberbourg, author of "Like Water and Other Stories" *
"Funny and strange, frank and incisive, Here Is a Game We Could Play circles deep fears and desires with the intimacy of a discovered diary. In a small town poisoned by industry, Claudia keeps a list of peculiar games to play with a potential lover, until these hypotheticals give way to a very real love affair set charmingly in a library, and a revelation about Claudia’s fascination with poison." * Katie M. Flynn, author of "The Companions" *