My life has been defined by close relationships with other women. My school years were full of sleepovers, group chats, and debrief sessions. In my twenties, my female friends quickly became more important than any romantic relationship as we navigated early adulthood milestones. My friendships with other women have made me who I am. But relationships between women are rarely as simple as the ‘girl power’ or ‘catfight’ labels the media wants to apply. More often than not, they’re a tapestry woven from a thousand different threads, some beautiful and some ugly. I love books, especially thrillers, that aren’t afraid to explore the messiness of these relationships.
As a writer, I’m no stranger to complex friendships that can emerge between creatives, which is just one of the reasons I love this delightfully dark gothic thriller about estranged best friends trapped at a writing retreat run by an enigmatic bestselling author.
With publication (and maybe their lives) on the line, the stakes couldn’t be higher, but Bartz still tells a compelling story about professional jealousy and two women who have hurt and been hurt by the other.
“Sex, suspense, and the supernatural fuel this propulsive debut.” —People
A young author is invited to an exclusive writer’s retreat that soon descends into a pulse-pounding nightmare—in the vein of The Plot and Please Join Us.
Alex has all but given up on her dreams of becoming a published author when she receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: attend an exclusive, month-long writing retreat at the estate of feminist horror writer Roza Vallo. Even the knowledge that Wren, her former best friend and current rival, is attending doesn’t dampen her excitement.
Part workplace thriller, part biting social commentary, this book beautifully captures the very specific anxiety of making your way in a world where the deck is stacked against you in more ways than one.
The relationship between Nella and Hazel is colored with admiration, envy, and something more sinister bubbling just underneath the surface. Plus, there’s a sucker punch of a twist that brings everything home.
Chickens, Mules and Two Old Fools
by
Victoria Twead,
Wall Street Journal Top 10 and New York Times bestselling author.
"James Herriot meets Driving over Lemons"
If Joe and Vicky had known what relocating to a tiny mountain village in Andalucía would REALLY be like, they might have hesitated... They have no idea of the culture shock in store.…
A compulsively readable exploration of friendship and motherhood, this book is hard not to devour in one sitting. The friendships that form between Madeline, Celeste, and Jane are so beautifully rendered–at once specific and universal–it’s no wonder the wildly popular TV adaptation is currently slated for a third season.
*Published as BIG LITTLE LIES in Australia and the United States*
Liane Moriarty, million copy selling author of The Husband's Secret brings us another addictive story of secrets and scandal.
Jane hasn't lived anywhere longer than six months since her son was born five years ago. She keeps moving in an attempt to escape her past. Now the idyllic seaside town of Pirriwee has pulled her to its shores and Jane finally feels like she belongs. She has friends in the feisty Madeline and the incredibly beautiful Celeste - two women with seemingly perfect lives . . . and their…
The past and the present constantly play against each other in this story about three adolescent best friends–only two of whom survive adulthood. I love Berman’s extremely honest portrayal of teenage girls who are as desperate to fit in as they are to stand out.
This is also an extremely well-rendered and lived-in portrayal of a trio of friends with a very different dynamic than a duo.
'This compulsive thriller reads like true crime and had me guessing until the very end.' Reese Witherspoon
Three friends went on holiday.
Only two came back.
Ten years ago, after a sun-soaked summer in Greece, best friends Bess and Joni were cleared of any involvement in their friend Evangeline's death. Although they were found innocent, the case made them infamous and they've not seen each other since.
Except now Joni wants a favour, and when she turns up at her old friend's doorstep in need of an alibi, Bess has no choice but to say yes. After all, she still…
Her pepper peach preserves are delectable, but murder is a jam that could ruin her life.
Roxy Constantine is the jam queen of Shavano, Colorado. But her social life is a bust, and she’s still recovering from a bad experience with a predatory chef as a line cook in Denver.…
I believe there is no greater prose writer in the English language than Morrison. Her stories are, by turns, lyrical and brutal. In this book, she explores the relationship between two women, Nel Wright and Sula Peace, whose fiercely loyal adolescent friendship morphs and twists over the course of two very different lives.
This book looks unflinching at the secrets that can draw us together and the hard truths that tear us apart. It’s also a complex portrait of womanhood and the darkness inside us all.
'Extravagantly beautiful... Enormously, achingly alive... A howl of love and rage, playful and funny as well as hard and bitter' New York Times
As young girls, Nel and Sula shared each other's secrets and dreams in the poor black mid-West of their childhood. Then Sula ran away to live her dreams and Nel got married.
Ten years later Sula returns and no one, least of all Nel, trusts her. Sula is a story of fear - the fear that traps us, justifying itself through perpetual myth and legend. Cast as a witch by the people who resent her strength, Sula…
My book is about the unraveling of a lifelong friendship. Marley and Thea have been best friends since birth until a vicious fight leaves them both reeling. When Thea’s body is found a few months later inside the remains of a burned-out house–a presumed suicide and the latest in a string of arsons ripping through their small, southern hometown–Marley is forced to consider how well she really knew her closest friend.
Determined to uncover the truth, Marley meets with her ex-fiancé to investigate what happened. Instead, she finds a viper’s nest of secrets about Thea that casts a new and much darker light on their friendship.
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year. The first in a charming, joyful crime series set in 1920s Bangalore, featuring sari-wearing detective Kaveri and her husband Ramu.
When clever, headstrong Kaveri moves to Bangalore to marry handsome young doctor Ramu, she's resigned herself to a quiet life. But…
Christopher Jope was supposed to be the next great celebrity heartthrob. But then he was demoted to third wheel in the supernatural throuple romance he starred in years ago. Now, he’s a B-list celebrity at best, struggling to find success in his work or love in his personal life.
