Gossip of the Starlings

“The kind of smart and riveting read that fans of a certain kind of campus drama—think Donna Tartt’s The Secret History—will devour.” —People

From the New York Times–bestselling author of The Christie Affair

When Catherine Morrow is admitted to the Esther Percy School for Girls, it’s on the condition that she reform her ways. But that’s before the beautiful and charismatic Skye Butterfield, daughter of the famous Senator Butterfield, chooses Catherine for her best friend. Skye is in love with danger and the thrill of breaking rules, taking risks, and crossing boundaries, no matter the stakes. The problem is, the stakes keep getting higher, and Catherine can neither resist Skye nor stop her from taking down everyone around her.

De Gramont’s chilling novel is a portrait of the seductions of adolescence in all their beauty and terror. Caught in this alluring world, the girls of Esther Percy are optimistic and willful, loving and selfish, daring and cruel—all the while believing they’re utterly indestructible.

“Nina de Gramont has written a stunning story of youth at its zenith and the tragic allure of a reckless zest for life that masks something far darker. I inhaled this novel in one breath.” —Jacquelyn Mitchard, #1 New York Times–bestselling author

“You want a story about prep school? This is a story about prep school . . . with a page-turning plot.” —Alicia Erian, author of Towelhead

“A transfixing debut novel charting the seductive and tragic friendship between two troubled boarding school girls . . . Grade: A-.” —The Washington Post