When We Were Monsters

The compulsive new thriller from multimillion-copy bestselling author Jennifer Niven.

Eight students walk into an exclusive writers’ retreat, but only one will walk out with a life-changing opportunity to realize their creative dreams.

Effy is piecing together a story about the tragic betrayal that led to her mother’s death. Arlo hopes to publish a novel – but he’s also trying to start a new chapter with Effy after he broke her heart and ghosted her three years earlier.

Their mentor is Meredith Graffam, enigmatic writer, director and actress, whose compelling accounts of her own near-death experience on the same retreat decades before continue to spark controversy.

But this celebrated teacher is not all she seems, and her students gradually realize they are fighting for something much more primal than academic advantage. As Graffam’s unorthodox teaching methods push them past breaking point, they reveal their darkest secrets, take unthinkable risks and slowly start to turn on one another. But Graffam never expected they would turn on her . . .

The Secret History meets One of Us is Lying in the most gripping thriller of the year.

Review

Niven’s signature ingredients: deep sensitivity, romance, poetry, and misunderstood, passionate characters. Now add a gothic mansion, a dangerous cliffside and a charismatic genius― and she’s serving up a standout dark academia thriller. ― E. Lockhart, #1 New York Times bestselling author of We Were Liars

About the Author

Jennifer Niven is the #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author ofAll the Bright Places, Holding Up the Universe and Breathless. Her books have been translated into over 75 languages and won literary awards around the world. She divides her time between coastal Georgia and Paris, with her husband and literary cats. Find her at jenniferniven.com and on social.