The Girls

THE INSTANT BESTSELLER • An indelible portrait of girls, the women they become, and that moment in life when everything can go horribly wrong NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • NPR • The Guardian • Entertainment Weekly • San Francisco Chronicle • Financial Times • Esquire • Newsweek • Vogue • Glamour • People • The Huffington Post • Elle • Harper's Bazaar • Time Out • BookPage • Publishers Weekly • Slate Northern California, during the violent end of the 1960s. At the start of summer, a lonely and thoughtful teenager, Evie Boyd, sees a group of girls in the park, and is immediately caught by their freedom, their careless dress, their dangerous aura of abandon. Soon, Evie is in thrall to Suzanne, a mesmerizing older girl, and is drawn into the circle of a soon-to-be infamous cult and the man who is its charismatic leader. Hidden in the hills, their sprawling ranch is eerie and run down, but to Evie, it is exotic, thrilling, charged-a place where she feels desperate to be accepted. As she spends more time away from her mother and the rhythms of her daily life, and as her obsession with Suzanne intensifies, Evie does not realize she is coming closer and closer to unthinkable violence. Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Award • Shortlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize • The New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice • Emma Cline-One of Granta's Best of Young American Novelists Praise for The Girls "Spellbinding . . . a seductive and arresting coming-of-age story."-The New York Times Book Review "Extraordinary . . . Debut novels like this are rare, indeed."-The Washington Post "Hypnotic."-The Wall Street Journal "Gorgeous."-Los Angeles Times "Savage."-The Guardian "Astonishing."-The Boston Globe "Superbly written."-James Wood, The New Yorker "Intensely consuming."-Richard Ford "A spectacular achievement."-Lucy Atkins, The Times "Thrilling."-Jennifer Egan "Compelling and startling."-The Economist

VINTAGE CLASSICS' AMERICAN GOTHIC SERIES Spine-tingling, mind-altering and deliciously atmospheric, journey into the dark side of America with nine of its most uncanny classics. A gripping and dark fictionalised account of life inside the Manson family from one of the most exciting young voices in fiction. If you're lost, they'll find you... Evie Boyd is fourteen and desperate to be noticed. It's the summer of 1969 and restless, empty days stretch ahead of her. Until she sees them. The girls. Hair long and uncombed, jewelry catching the sun. And at their centre, Suzanne, black-haired and beautiful. If not for Suzanne, she might not have gone. But, intoxicated by her and the life she promises, Evie follows the girls back to the decaying ranch where they live. Was there a warning? A sign of what was coming? Or did Evie know already that there was no way back? 'Taut, beautiful and savage, Cline's novel demands your attention' Guardian

VINTAGE CLASSICS' AMERICAN GOTHIC SERIES Spine-tingling, mind-altering and deliciously atmospheric, journey into the dark side of America with nine of its most uncanny classics. A gripping and dark fictionalised account of life inside the Manson family from one of the most exciting young voices in fiction. If you're lost, they'll find you... Evie Boyd is fourteen and desperate to be noticed. It's the summer of 1969 and restless, empty days stretch ahead of her. Until she sees them. The girls. Hair long and uncombed, jewelry catching the sun. And at their centre, Suzanne, black-haired and beautiful. If not for Suzanne, she might not have gone. But, intoxicated by her and the life she promises, Evie follows the girls back to the decaying ranch where they live. Was there a warning? A sign of what was coming? Or did Evie know already that there was no way back? 'Taut, beautiful and savage, Cline's novel demands your attention' Guardian

You live on a picturesque communal garden square, an oasis in urban London where your children run free, in and out of other people's houses. You've known your neighbours for years and you trust them. Implicitly. You think your children are safe. But are they really? Midsummer night : a thirteen-year-old girl is found unconscious in a dark corner of the garden square. What really happened to her? And who is responsible? Utterly believable characters, a gripping story and a dark secret buried at its core: this is Lisa Jewell at her heart-stopping best.

A gripping and dark fictionalised account of life inside the Manson family. If you’re lost, they’ll find you… Evie Boyd is fourteen and desperate to be noticed. It’s the summer of 1969 and restless, empty days stretch ahead of her. Until she sees them. The girls. Hair long and uncombed, jewellery catching the sun. And at their centre, Suzanne, black-haired and beautiful. If not for Suzanne, she might not have gone. But, intoxicated by her and the life she promises, Evie follows the girls back to the decaying ranch where they live. Was there a warning? A sign of what was coming? Or did Evie know already that there was no way back? ‘Taut, beautiful and savage, Cline’s novel demands your attention’ Guardian

'Such great dialogue and action...a frisky murder story and terrific reading' John Self, The Times Two women. One baby. And a man in the septic tank. In their lovely Cotswolds village, Janet and Susan are known simply as ‘the girls’. Partners in love and work, proprietors of a picturesque shop, they lead an enviably peaceful life. But after one moment of surprising passion, the girls’ lives take a deeply unsettling turn. Part-dark comedy, part-crime thriller, part-cosy love story, The Girls will ensure you never look on Middle England quite so quaintly again. ‘Startlingly offbeat’ Gore Vidal ‘Absolutely wicked’ Armistead Maupin ‘[For] those who feel Barbara Pym-ish on some days and Stephen King-ish on others . . . The Girls charms us as only certain tales ‘of village life’ can’ Washington Post

A gripping and dark fictionalised account of life inside the Manson family. If you’re lost, they’ll find you… Evie Boyd is fourteen and desperate to be noticed. It’s the summer of 1969 and restless, empty days stretch ahead of her. Until she sees them. The girls. Hair long and uncombed, jewellery catching the sun. And at their centre, Suzanne, black-haired and beautiful. If not for Suzanne, she might not have gone. But, intoxicated by her and the life she promises, Evie follows the girls back to the decaying ranch where they live. Was there a warning? A sign of what was coming? Or did Evie know already that there was no way back? ‘Taut, beautiful and savage, Cline’s novel demands your attention’ Guardian

THE INSTANT BESTSELLER • An indelible portrait of girls, the women they become, and that moment in life when everything can go horribly wrong NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • NPR • The Guardian • Entertainment Weekly • San Francisco Chronicle • Financial Times • Esquire • Newsweek • Vogue • Glamour • People • The Huffington Post • Elle • Harper's Bazaar • Time Out • BookPage • Publishers Weekly • Slate Northern California, during the violent end of the 1960s. At the start of summer, a lonely and thoughtful teenager, Evie Boyd, sees a group of girls in the park, and is immediately caught by their freedom, their careless dress, their dangerous aura of abandon. Soon, Evie is in thrall to Suzanne, a mesmerizing older girl, and is drawn into the circle of a soon-to-be infamous cult and the man who is its charismatic leader. Hidden in the hills, their sprawling ranch is eerie and run down, but to Evie, it is exotic, thrilling, charged-a place where she feels desperate to be accepted. As she spends more time away from her mother and the rhythms of her daily life, and as her obsession with Suzanne intensifies, Evie does not realize she is coming closer and closer to unthinkable violence. Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Award • Shortlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize • The New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice • Emma Cline-One of Granta's Best of Young American Novelists Praise for The Girls "Spellbinding . . . a seductive and arresting coming-of-age story."-The New York Times Book Review "Extraordinary . . . Debut novels like this are rare, indeed."-The Washington Post "Hypnotic."-The Wall Street Journal "Gorgeous."-Los Angeles Times "Savage."-The Guardian "Astonishing."-The Boston Globe "Superbly written."-James Wood, The New Yorker "Intensely consuming."-Richard Ford "A spectacular achievement."-Lucy Atkins, The Times "Thrilling."-Jennifer Egan "Compelling and startling."-The Economist

You live on a picturesque communal garden square, an oasis in urban London where your children run free, in and out of other people's houses. You've known your neighbours for years and you trust them. Implicitly. You think your children are safe. But are they really? Midsummer night : a thirteen-year-old girl is found unconscious in a dark corner of the garden square. What really happened to her? And who is responsible? Utterly believable characters, a gripping story and a dark secret buried at its core: this is Lisa Jewell at her heart-stopping best.

'Such great dialogue and action...a frisky murder story and terrific reading' John Self, The Times Two women. One baby. And a man in the septic tank. In their lovely Cotswolds village, Janet and Susan are known simply as ‘the girls’. Partners in love and work, proprietors of a picturesque shop, they lead an enviably peaceful life. But after one moment of surprising passion, the girls’ lives take a deeply unsettling turn. Part-dark comedy, part-crime thriller, part-cosy love story, The Girls will ensure you never look on Middle England quite so quaintly again. ‘Startlingly offbeat’ Gore Vidal ‘Absolutely wicked’ Armistead Maupin ‘[For] those who feel Barbara Pym-ish on some days and Stephen King-ish on others . . . The Girls charms us as only certain tales ‘of village life’ can’ Washington Post

A wry, macabre tale of simple country living, brutal murder, and a reasonably happy couple, from our "most startlingly offbeat suspense novelist" (Gore Vidal). In their lovely old Cotswolds village, Janet and Susan are known to all the other villagers as "the girls"--a fixture. Partners in love and work, co-proprietors of a picturesque shop specializing in the work of local artisans and farmers, they lead an enviable, enviably settled life. So it's no catastrophe when Sue, the younger of the two, feels the need to take a month to travel on her own, leaving Jan alone to run their stall at the Inland Waterways Rally Craft Fair. Nor is it any real threat when a kindly gay man named Alan lends Jan a hand in Sue's absence, or when the two wind up sharing some wine and even a bunk for the night. If Jan turns out to be pregnant some weeks after Sue's return to the nest, what's that but cause for joy? And when Alan happens to come visiting, by and by, finding the delighted girls raising a beautiful baby boy, who can blame him for wanting to share in a small part of their bliss? Yes, theirs is an enviable, enviably settled life. And the girls will defend it with every tool at their disposal.

A wry, macabre tale of simple country living, brutal murder, and a reasonably happy couple, from our "most startlingly offbeat suspense novelist" (Gore Vidal). In their lovely old Cotswolds village, Janet and Susan are known to all the other villagers as "the girls"--a fixture. Partners in love and work, co-proprietors of a picturesque shop specializing in the work of local artisans and farmers, they lead an enviable, enviably settled life. So it's no catastrophe when Sue, the younger of the two, feels the need to take a month to travel on her own, leaving Jan alone to run their stall at the Inland Waterways Rally Craft Fair. Nor is it any real threat when a kindly gay man named Alan lends Jan a hand in Sue's absence, or when the two wind up sharing some wine and even a bunk for the night. If Jan turns out to be pregnant some weeks after Sue's return to the nest, what's that but cause for joy? And when Alan happens to come visiting, by and by, finding the delighted girls raising a beautiful baby boy, who can blame him for wanting to share in a small part of their bliss? Yes, theirs is an enviable, enviably settled life. And the girls will defend it with every tool at their disposal.