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When We Were Monsters

£9.99

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

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ISBN: 9780241772492 Category: Children's - Young Readers Tags: Children's / Teenage fiction: Romance & relationships stories, Children's / Teenage fiction: Thrillers, Children's / Teenage personal & social issues: death & bereavement, Children's / Teenage personal & social issues: Sexuality & relationships
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Description

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.

Read a sample here

Additional information

Weight 0.281 kg
Dimensions 19.7 × 12.8 × 2.4 cm
Author

Niven, Jennifer

Publisher

Penguin Books

Imprint

Penguin Books

Cover

Paperback

Pages

384

Language

English

Edition

Paperback original

Dewey

813.6 (edition:23)

Readership

Children – juvenile / Code: J

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Join Tony for a little bit of Saturday Crafting! 

Learn how to make beaded keychains; who needs a labubu on their bag?! These events are free for all; no booking needed ✨

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BOOKS & BEVS! 📚🍹 pt.2

If you could choose any author to share a drink with who would you want to sip alongside? Would you be spilling tea or something stronger? Let us know in the comments!

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How about a non-fic read? Bookseller Ethan recommends 'We Were There' by Lanre Bakare

Bakare brings together a collection of often overlooked voices that feel deeply personal and rooted in place. Moving across different lives and perspectives, explore identity, community, and what it means to grow up in spaces that are often misunderstood. Reading this book, you feel like you’re listening closely to real stories, admiring resilience, and recognising elements of yourself in them, even when the experiences are not your own. It’s a celebration Black Britain beyond London.📚🤓🎶

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‼️BOOK CLUB NEWS‼️

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We are leaning into bringing your ‘girlhood**’ into your current self, so we encourage you to dress in a way that would make younger you proud, and we will be writing notes to our younger selves in the talk!

**’girlhood’ in this sense is gender neutral – what aspects of your youth do you wish to hold onto? What do you think you had to ‘leave behind’ as you entered adulthood?

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