The Girls: A Novel | Emma Cline
Girlstheir vulnerability, strength, and passion to belongare at the heart of this stunning first novel for readers of Jeffrey Eugenides The Virgin Suicides and Jennifer Egans A Visit from the Goon Squad. 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, chargeda 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, and to that moment in a girls life when everything can go horribly wrong. Emma Clines remarkable debut novel is gorgeously written and spellbinding, with razor-sharp precision and startling psychological insight. The Girls is a brilliant work of fictionand an indelible portrait of girls, and of the women they become.Advance praise for The Girls The Girls is a brilliant and intensely consuming novelimposing not just for a writer so young, but for any writer, any time.Richard Ford Emma Clines first novel positively hums with fresh, startling, luminous prose. The Girls announces the arrival of a thrilling new voice in American fiction.Jennifer Egan I dont know which is more amazing, Emma Clinesunderstanding of human beings or her mastery of language.Mark Haddon, New York Times bestselling author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Emma Cline has an unparalleled eye for the intricacies of girlhood, turning the stuff of myth into something altogether more intimate. She reminds us that behind so many of our cultures fables exists a girl: unseen, unheard, angry. This book will break your heart and blow your mind.Lena DunhamFrom the Hardcover edition.