Description
The compulsive new thriller from multimillion-selling NYT bestselling author Jennifer Niven.
Eight students walk into an exclusive writers' retreat, but only one will walk out with a life-changing opportunity to realize their creative dreams.
Effy is piecing together a story about the tragic betrayal that led to her mother's death. Arlo hopes to publish a novel - but he's also trying to start a new chapter with Effy after he broke her heart and ghosted her three years earlier.
Their mentor is Meredith Graffam, enigmatic writer, director and actress, whose compelling accounts of her own near-death experience on the same retreat decades before continue to spark controversy.
But this celebrated teacher is not all she seems, and her students gradually realize they are fighting for something much more primal than academic advantage. As Graffam's unorthodox teaching methods push them past breaking point, they reveal their darkest secrets, take unthinkable risks and slowly start to turn on one another. But Graffam never expected they would turn on her . . .
Review
Eight students from the prestigious Brighton and Hove College are selected to take part in a January break writing workshop with the famous almuni, author, and movie director Meredith Graffam. And one winner will take away a life changing prize...
We follow the experience through the eyes of Effy and Arlo. These two have a history, but after making out two years ago Arlo disappeared and was never heard of again - until now.
Effy can’t forgive him, and she is also struggling with the death of her mother in a car accident that resulted in her father being jailed for the last eleven years.
Arlo too has his grief, following the death of his best friend in a drowning that he blames himself for.
All of the contestants have secrets that Meredith plays on, both to unsettle them and also to get them to trust her implicitly. She gets them to perform dangerous feats, and exiles from the property those that she sees as inferior. When there are four left, they start to realise what a dangerous situation they are in. Meredith’s first best-selling novel was based on her own writing workshop experience where her best friend was killed. Could Meredith have played a bigger part in her death? Is she actually a hero - or maybe someone a whole lot more dangerous? Will they even get out alive?
This is a gripping murder mystery that will be loved by readers. With issues of trust, forgiveness, grief, control, and the need to be seen and succeed, it will be best suited to readers aged 15 and older.
