by Emma Cline
First published 2016
Evie Boyd watches a group of girls in a Northern California park during the summer of the late 1960s. Their wild appearance and reckless energy captivate her immediately. The lonely teenager becomes obsessed with Suzanne, an older girl who radiates danger and freedom. Suzanne leads Evie into the inner circle of a cult run by a magnetic leader. Their decaying ranch hidden in the hills feels exotic and electric to Evie, who craves acceptance above all else. She abandons her mother and normal teenage routines, spending more time with the group. Her fixation on Suzanne grows stronger each day. Evie cannot see that she moves steadily toward shocking violence. She stands at the precipice where a young woman's life can shatter completely.
Genres: literary-fiction, coming-of-age, contemporary, psychological-thriller
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Northern California
Period: Late 1960s
355 pages · Hardcover · Random House
Content warnings: violence