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Staff Pick
A deliciously creepy nod to the young women involved in the Manson murders, The Girls is edge-of-your-seat reading. Cline has mastered both the cluelessness of cult worship, as well as the extreme closeness and ruthless competition that young women often find together. Extremely well done, this novel will be everywhere this summer, and rightly so — don't miss it! Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com
An intoxicating read with stunning writing. Evie's pensive thoughts and bold moves lead her down a dangerous path. Chilling and haunting! Recommended By Adrienne C., Powells.com
A fictional account of a grim and all-too-real episode in
American history, Emma Cline’s The Girls
is a compulsive read. Even I, the slowest of slow readers, breezed through it
(much to my own surprise and delight). But what blindsided me about this book
is how accurately — and I mean painfully
so — Cline captures the feeling of being a teenage girl. If you are, have ever been,
or even just know one, I think you’ll
agree that’s no small feat, and will be amazed at Cline’s mastery of it. This
book deserves every bit of buzz it’s generated and more. Recommended By Tove H., Powells.com
Debut author Cline takes the bones of the infamous Manson cult murders and uses the altered details to frame the story of teenager Evie Boyd. While I found the story compelling on several levels, the profound insights on a young woman's interior life proved to be what drew me in. This is a great read on so many levels. Recommended By Kathi K., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"Emma Cline’s first novel positively hums with fresh, startling, luminous prose. The Girls announces the arrival of a thrilling new voice in American fiction." Jennifer Egan
Review
"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 culture’s fables exists a girl: unseen, unheard, angry. This book will break your heart and blow your mind." Lena Dunham
Review
"Debut novels like this are rare, indeed.... The most remarkable quality of this novel is Cline’s ability to articulate the anxieties of adolescence in language that’s gorgeously poetic without mangling the authenticity of a teenager’s consciousness. The adult’s melancholy reflection and the girl’s swelling impetuousness are flawlessly braided together.... For a story that traffics in the lurid notoriety of the Manson murders, The Girls is an extraordinary act of restraint. With the maturity of a writer twice her age, Cline has written a wise novel that’s never showy: a quiet, seething confession of yearning and terror." The Washington Post
Review
"[The Girls reimagines] the American novel... Like Mary Gaitskill’s Veronica or Lorrie Moore’s Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?, The Girls captures a defining friendship in its full humanity with a touch of rock-memoir, tell-it-like-it-really-was attitude." Vogue
Review
"Spellbinding... A seductive and arresting coming-of-age story hinged on Charles Manson, told in sentences at times so finely wrought they could almost be worn as jewelry... [Emma] Cline gorgeously maps the topography of one loneliness-ravaged adolescent heart. She gives us the fictional truth of a girl chasing danger beyond her comprehension, in a Summer of Longing and Loss." The New York Times Book Review
About the Author
Emma Cline was the winner of The Paris Review’s Plimpton Prize in 2014. She is from California.