First published 2019
When an exclusive academy for gifted children opens in Crystal, Colorado, four families who have been close friends for over a decade find their bonds tested. These parents have watched each other's children grow up together, sharing playdates and birthday parties. Now they face a brutal competition that will determine which kids gain admission to the prestigious new school. The application process exposes long-buried secrets and forces parents to confront how far they will go to secure their children's futures. Marriages strain under pressure. Siblings turn against each other. Career ambitions clash with family loyalty. As the friends navigate interviews, tests, and recommendations, their competitiveness threatens to destroy relationships they have built over years. The children watch their parents transform into strangers willing to lie and manipulate for an advantage. What begins as an opportunity for academic excellence becomes a reckoning with privilege, ambition, and the true cost of success in modern America.
Genres: fiction, contemporary, family-drama, academic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Colorado, Crystal
Period: 21st-century
656 pages · Paperback · Random House Large Print