The Great Gatsby meets Looking for Alaska in this stunning debut novel.
When Julia Buchanan enrolls at St. Anne’s at the beginning of junior year, Charlotte Ryder already knows all about her. Most people do . . . or think they do. Charlotte certainly never expects she’ll be Julia’s friend. But almost immediately, she dives headfirst into the larger-than-life new girl’s world—a world of midnight rendezvous, dazzling parties, palatial vacation homes, and fizzy champagne cocktails. And then Charlotte meets, and begins falling for, Julia’s handsome older brother, Sebastian. But behind Julia’s self-assured smiles and toasts to the future, Charlotte soon realizes, she is still suffering from a tragedy. A tragedy that the Buchanan family has kept hidden . . . until now.
With inspiration drawn from Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, Chelsey Philpot’s moving debut novel perfectly captures the intensity, the thrill, and the heartbreak of our too-brief friendships and loves.
★ Eloquent and suspenseful . . . While readers know early on that Charlie’s relationship with the Buchanans is headed for a fall, they’ll be as entranced as she is by this beguiling, Kennedy-esque family, for whom power and pain are inextricably entwined.
Publishers Weekly starred review
This intriguing and beautifully written-novel has it all—love, loss, friendships, secrets, and that startling concept that one mistake can change the course of your life forever.
Elizabeth LaBan, author of The Tragedy Paper
An homage to Brideshead Revisited that reverently paints the rush and the melancholy of the original, while reinventing itself brilliantly for mature young adult readers. A striking coming-of-age debut.
Julie Berry, author of All the Truth That’s in Me
Purchase Even in Paradise
A modern romance and classic tragedy. Readers who enjoy deep explorations of emotions and human frailty will relish this work.
School Library Journal
Poignant and enigmatic.
Leila Sales, author of This Song Will Save Your Life
Fluid, nimble prose, lush descriptive passages, and a tenderly nostalgic plot.
Horn Book Magazine