Emily Nemens - Clutch

"Wise, witty, and at times harrowing, Nemens skillfully weaves the lives of these five friends, memorably cemented by time."

—Jill McCorkle

As undergrads, Reba, Hillary, Carson, Gregg, and Bella formed the kind of rare bond that college brochures promise—friendship that lasts a lifetime. Two decades later, the women are spread across the country but remain firmly tethered through their ever-unfurling group chat. They’ve made it through COVID and childbirth and midcareer challenges, but no one can anticipate what’s coming down the pike.

“Clutch is a sharp, heartfelt celebration of modern friendship, positioning it as the backbone of our social lives. Through bold, inventive leaps, Nemens’s prose dazzles, elevating the group chat, and the friend bond, to something sacred and vital. A big-hearted and daring novel from one of our finest creative and critical minds”

“Finally, we have a collective noun for a group of aging female friends, and only the great Emily Nemens could’ve declared it. Clutch is hilarious, philosophical, anthropological, polyphonic, with a keen eye for the specific foibles of our present American moment. Nemens is an expert chronicler of the subtle ways women wound each other, and also, the ways they offer love. The way a friendship can carry venom and antidote both. These pages made me laugh and broke my heart—yes, it had me in its clutches.”

“A sharp, funny, utterly engrossing exploration of the enduring complexity and deep love of long-term friendship, Clutch enmeshes you in the particularities, yearning, fears of these five friends, as they try and fail and try again to love and care for one another amidst the endless push and pull, losses and joys of middle life.”

“Clutch is a powerfully intimate portrait of female friendship... With razor-sharp insight, humor, and deep compassion, Nemens explores how these women navigate life’s most challenging moments, proving that even when circumstances threaten to tear them apart, the bonds forged in youth can become the foundation for reinvention. This is a bracingly honest and exhilarating novel about the messy, complicated, and essential work of showing up for the people who matter most.”

“What happens when youthful dreams and ambitions hit the wall? Emily Nemens’s compelling new novel, Clutch, is an exploration of long devoted friendships in such pivotal moments. The life-changing situations and choices leave us aware of both a universal experience and the most private and fragile one. Wise, witty, and at times harrowing, Nemens skillfully weaves the lives of these five friends, memorably cemented by time.”

“Witty, incisive, and gorgeously written, Clutch is about the friendships that carry us through life’s most complicated chapters. The five women in this book, so lovingly portrayed in all their imperfect glory, will step off the page and into your heart.”

Emily Nemens is a writer, illustrator, editor, and educator. Her debut novel, The Cactus League, was published in 2020 to critical acclaim. Her new novel, Clutch, will be published by Tin House on February 3, 2026. Emily has edited at The Paris Review, The Southern Review, and Stranger’s Guide, and teaches in the MFA program at Bennington Writing Seminars.