Fierce Little Thing
A Novel
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
“A Secret History-esque tale...All the ingredients for the perfect summer read.” —The Millions
“Captivating, thoughtful, and tense, a great read for those who enjoy psychological thrillers and complex puzzles. Highly recommended.” —New York Journal Review of Books
“It’s time to come Home. All five of you. Or else.”
Saskia was a damaged, lonely teenager when she arrived at the lakeside commune called Home. She was entranced by the tang of sourdough starter; the midnight call of the loons; the triumph of foraging wild mushrooms from the forest floor. But most of all she was taken with Abraham, Home's charismatic leader, the North Star to Saskia and the four other teens who lived there, her best and only friends.
Two decades later, Saskia is shuttered in her Connecticut estate, estranged from the others. Her carefully walled life is torn open by threatening letters. Unless she and her former friends return to the land in rural Maine, the terrible thing they did as teenagers—their last-ditch attempt to save Home—will be revealed.
From vastly different lives, the five return to confront their blackmailer and reckon with the horror that split them apart. How far will they go to bury their secret forever?
New York Times bestselling author Miranda Beverly-Whittemore’s Fierce Little Thing is a mesmerizing story of friendship and its reckonings.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
After 12-year-old Saskia's father goes to prison for her little brother's murder and her mother decamps to Mexico in this haunting psychological thriller from bestseller Beverly-Whittemore (June), Saskia goes to live in a Manhattan loft with her friend Xavier. While Xavier's mother is traveling, his father, an eccentric artist, decides that he and the kids should summer in Maine at a lakeside commune dubbed Home. Saskia quickly falls under the thrall of the commune's charismatic leader and finds a sense of belonging she'd do anything to preserve. Twenty-five years later, reclusive Saskia is sequestered inside her Connecticut home when Xavier comes knocking: someone has been writing to Home's former teen residents, threatening to tell the world about the crime they committed unless all five of them return. Saskia's evocative, elegiac narration cycles rapidly between past and present, escalating pace and imparting suspense while developing the keenly rendered characters and their thorny histories. Not every revelation feels earned, but on balance, Beverly-Whittemore delivers a twisty, rewarding tale of friendship, secrets, and childhood trauma. Donna Tartt fans, take note.
