Kiss Me First by Lottie Moggach

Leila is a socially isolated young woman who lives alone after the death of her mother. When the charismatic leader of an internet forum contacts her with a very special favour, Leila starts to take over the online identity of Tess, a wild child with a chequered past. At first, it is all too easy; no one has any reason to suspect that Tess is not who she was. But how much can Leila live through Tess without her own identity becoming blurred?

Leila is an interesting narrator, an outsider who observes and doesn’t fully understand social interactions (she is, perhaps, mildly autistic), yet who becomes the perfect online mimic. Leila’s logical view of the world can be discomfiting; the dismissal of her generation’s shallow status updates and their herd fashion habits, plus her romantic naïvety that cannot translate to real life.

Moggach has written a uncomfortable story for our social media times, suggesting a modern affliction where we do not really exist without the validation of others – those ‘likes’, retweets and replies are what create us. The tone is far from preachy, but is it a warning that we spend too much time online and not IRL? [Alice Sinclair]