"Some call her a cult leader. Others, their salvation. I used to call her my best friend…"
Ten years ago, seventeen-year-olds Katie and Frida spent a heatwave summer together on a tidal island and they haven’t spoken since. Katie has tried hard to forget about what happened, all while watching Frida rise to fame as a spiritual influencer with millions of devoted followers.But then a photograph surfaces: a group of girls bathed in summer light, white t-shirts glowing against marsh water. One figure is the celebrated Frida Rae. One is Katie. The others are girls whose dead bodies recently washed up near the island.As a determined journalist starts asking questions, Katie’s carefully constructed life as a doctor’s wife and a mother begins to crack. Forced to recall her time with Frida, she is drawn back into a world of obsession, toxic first love and deadly secrets. Frida has many faces: victim, friend, spiritual leader. But how far will both women go to protect their image – and whose story will the world believe?
ANNA STOTHARD
Anna Stothard was born in London. She studied English at Oxford and Screenwriting at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. She is the author of four internationally acclaimed novels. Her writing often explores themes of identity, belonging, and obsession. Anna now lives and writes by the sea on the west coast of Guernsey.
She is also an editor who offers book mentoring and manuscript critique services. Get in contact for pricing and schedule.
Also by Anna Stothard
During a hot London summer of first love and bad decisions, teenage siblings are left to fend for themselves when their parents disappear.
A unnamed London girl attends the funeral of her estranged mother at a hotel in Los Angeles, then spends the summer getting to know the men who loved her mother.
What are the objects that define you? An old lover appears at the museum where Cathy works, causing chaos in her carefully curated life ...
© Anna Stothard