People like Emmy Jackson. They always have. Especially online, where she is Instagram sensation Mamabare, famous for always telling the unvarnished truth about modern parenthood.
But Emmy isn’t as honest as she’d like the fans to believe. She may think she has her followers fooled, but someone out there knows the truth and plans to make her pay. Because people like her have no idea what pain careless words can cause. Because people like her need to learn what it feels like to lose everything.
A smart and thrilling debut that delves into the darkest aspects of influencer culture, Ellery Lloyd’s People Like Her is about what you risk losing when you don’t know who’s watching . . .
People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd was published on 21 January 2021 in hardback by Mantle. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review.
A version of this review was originally published in the Daily Express on Friday 22 January 2021.
Emmy Jackson is ‘Mamabare’; she has over one million Instagram followers and she’s known for being brutally honest about motherhood.
Dan is Emmy’s husband. Dan wrote a best-selling novel, seven years ago and has been writing the follow up ever since. Dan, Emmy and their two children live off the proceeds of Emmy’s ‘little grids’. Their lives are purely ‘content’; managed and photographed and utterly and completely contrived.
It appears that everyone loves Emmy, but there’s another character in this story. An unknown woman who is desperate to bring Emmy down.
This is a fast-paced and insightful look into the world of the online influencer. It makes for uncomfortable reading at times, as the author examines just how far a parent will go to ensure that their followers stick with them. Emmy’s small children are all over the internet, everyone know everything about them.
Dan is becoming increasingly disillusioned with their life. Emmy’s agent Irene is a force to be reckoned with and seems to rule their household, stage managing every event as Emmy spends more and more time on her grid than she does on her family.
Things turn sinister when a fake Instagram pops up, featuring photos of their daughter. Dan becomes angrier and angrier, determined to track down whoever is doing this.
Meanwhile, the mystery follower is putting her plan into action and Emmy and her baby are duped into a terrifying position.
People Like Her is a modern and totally relevant look at how online influencers are often not what they appear, mixed with a hint of thriller. Great characters, although not in the least likeable, this is an original and compelling story of our time.
Collette is a journalist and editor, the former content director of Elle (UK) and editorial director at Soho House. She has written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, and the Sunday Times.
Paul is the author of two previous novels, Welcome to the Working Week and Every Day is Like Sunday. He is the program director for English Literature with Creative Writing at the University of Surrey.
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