Emma Cline is an American writer and novelist whose work delves into the complexities of female characters and their inner lives. She masterfully explores themes of adolescence, sexuality, and societal expectations, offering a penetrating gaze into the psychology of her characters. Cline's prose is celebrated for its lyrical quality and her ability to capture the subtle nuances of human relationships. Her distinctive voice resonates with readers, providing a compelling exploration of modern experience.
Evie Boyd is fourteen and desperate to be noticed. It's the summer of 1969 and restless, empty days stretch ahead of her. Until she sees them. The girls. Hair long and uncombed, jewelry catching the sun. And at their centre, Suzanne black-haired and beautiful. If not for Suzanne, she might not have gone with them
From the bestselling author of The Girls comes a “brilliant” (The New York Times) story collection exploring the dark corners of human experience. “Daddy’s ten masterful, provocative stories confirm that Cline is a staggering talent.”—Esquire NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY An absentee father collects his son from boarding school after a shocking act of violence. A nanny to a celebrity family hides out in Laurel Canyon in the aftermath of a tabloid scandal. A young woman sells her underwear to strangers. A notorious guest arrives at a placid, not-quite rehab in the Southwest. In ten remarkable stories, Emma Cline portrays moments when the ordinary is disturbed, when daily life buckles, revealing the perversity and violence pulsing under the surface. She explores characters navigating the edge, the limits of themselves and those around them: power dynamics in families, in relationships, the distance between their true and false selves. They want connection, but what they provoke is often closer to self-sabotage. What are the costs of one’s choices? Of the moments when we act, or fail to act? These complexities are at the heart of Daddy, Emma Cline’s sharp-eyed illumination of the contrary impulses that animate our inner lives.
*A FINANCIAL TIMES Best Book of 2023 * A NEW STATESMAN Book of the Year 2023 * A TIMES 'Book of 2023' * 'Addictive' STYLIST Books to Look Out For 2023 * 'Destined to be the status read of 2023' HARPER'S BAZAAR BEST NEW FICTION * Summer is coming to a close on Long Island, and Alex is no longer welcome... One misstep at a dinner party and the older man she's been staying with dismisses her with a ride to the train station and a ticket back to the city. With few resources, but a gift for navigating the desires of others, Alex stays on the island. She drifts like a ghost through the gated driveways and sun-blasted dunes of a rarefied world, trailing destruction in her wake. Taut, sensual and impossible to look away from, The Guest captures the latent heat and potential danger of a summer that could go either way for a young woman teetering on the edge. PRAISE FOR EMMA CLINE 'Taut, beautiful and savage' GUARDIAN 'Stunning . . . thrilling . . . a spectacular achievement' THE TIMES 'Something about Cline's intimate tone, her talent for conjuring the feeling of being alive, is entirely and uniquely her own' RACHEL KUSHNER 'An astonishingly gifted stylist' BRANDON TAYLOR