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    The Quiet Ones

    A Novel

    Part of Thousand Voices

    Author Tara O'Sullivan
    Hardcover
    $28.00 US
    | $38.99 CAN
    Random House Group | The Dial Press
    12 per carton
    On sale Mar 30, 2027 | 320 Pages | 9798217198108
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    A woman is plunged back into the mystery that defined her childhood in this slippery, haunting psychological suspense novel.

    There is always more than one way to tell the truth … and more than one way to lie.

    When Eve was eleven, she met Amber—a girl as bright as fire and just as dangerous. Alongside their golden friend Caitlin, the three became inseparable, roaming their seaside town and bound by secrets, dares, and a macabre fascination with death. 

    Then a boy went missing. 

    Now, decades on, a break in the long-cold case drags Eve back to the summer that changed everything. As she begins to untangle what really happened, she is forced to question the stories she has told herself all these years—especially about the girl at the center of it all.

    Because Amber didn’t just keep secrets. She created them. 

    Dark, intoxicating, and sharply observed, The Quiet Ones is an unsettling portrait of girlhood, guilt, and memory.
    “Reading The Quiet Ones by Tara O’Sullivan is like falling into a lush and frightening dream. With cunning mastery, O’Sullivan has crafted a dazzling, hypnotic thriller, rich with the mysteries—and dangers—of adolescent female friendships and the marks those friendships leave.”—Megan Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of El Dorado Drive

    “The Quiet Ones is exquisitely written, at once beautiful and brutal, delicate, and disturbing: A tender and unsettling portrait of girlhood, with its tangled emotions pulsing under every word. A moving story of love, regret, truth, and consequences. A dark, compelling, and emotional read with a breathlessly shocking ending. This is a book you can’t put down once you start and that you won’t stop thinking about when it ends. . . . An incredible debut.”—Ilona Bannister, bestselling author of Five

    “A richly evocative literary thriller about the enduring shadow of youthful impulses, The Quiet Ones builds tension with the expert precision of a metronome. But there’s nothing steady or quiet about the way O’Sullivan’s narrative voice announces itself—assuredly, she takes her place next to Tana French and Liz Moore as an undeniable master of the genre. This is a stunning debut from an exciting new talent.”—Katy Hays, New York Times bestselling author of Saltwater

    “Intoxicating and propulsive, The Quiet Ones perfectly captures the darkness and delight of adolescence. A beautiful, brutal thriller: I loved it.”—Emilia Hart, New York Times bestselling author of The Sirens

    “I adored this haunting, enigmatic novel, which ties and then unpicks a bittersweet bond of friendship between three girls who feel like outsiders to everyone but one another. In the quiet menace of a rural town and its whispering school corridors, rumors billow and certainties fade, which kept me wrong-footed and guessing. Unsettling and otherworldly, this novel draws you in to the wild joy of youth and sorority, and its inevitable collapse into distrust and danger. Beautifully and precisely written, these characters have lingered in my thoughts, almost against my will. . . . As gleaming and unsettling and finely wrought as a magpie’s skull.”—Emma van Straaten, author of Creep

    “The Quiet Ones is a tense and enthralling study of the world of teenage girls. Compassionate and horrifying in equal measure, this story holds all the love, pain, loyalty, and secrecy of adolescence. I couldn’t put it down.”—Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin, author of Ordinary Saints
    © Robin Christian
    Tara O’Sullivan is based in London, although she mostly grew up in Cornwall with a short stint in Coronado, California. She has an MA in creative writing from the University of Exeter and was longlisted for the Discoveries Prize, a Curtis Brown Creative writing program in partnership with the Women’s Prize Trust and Audible. When she isn’t working on her own writing, she edits other people’s books as a freelance editor and proofreader. View titles by Tara O'Sullivan

    About

    A woman is plunged back into the mystery that defined her childhood in this slippery, haunting psychological suspense novel.

    There is always more than one way to tell the truth … and more than one way to lie.

    When Eve was eleven, she met Amber—a girl as bright as fire and just as dangerous. Alongside their golden friend Caitlin, the three became inseparable, roaming their seaside town and bound by secrets, dares, and a macabre fascination with death. 

    Then a boy went missing. 

    Now, decades on, a break in the long-cold case drags Eve back to the summer that changed everything. As she begins to untangle what really happened, she is forced to question the stories she has told herself all these years—especially about the girl at the center of it all.

    Because Amber didn’t just keep secrets. She created them. 

    Dark, intoxicating, and sharply observed, The Quiet Ones is an unsettling portrait of girlhood, guilt, and memory.

    Reviews

    “Reading The Quiet Ones by Tara O’Sullivan is like falling into a lush and frightening dream. With cunning mastery, O’Sullivan has crafted a dazzling, hypnotic thriller, rich with the mysteries—and dangers—of adolescent female friendships and the marks those friendships leave.”—Megan Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of El Dorado Drive

    “The Quiet Ones is exquisitely written, at once beautiful and brutal, delicate, and disturbing: A tender and unsettling portrait of girlhood, with its tangled emotions pulsing under every word. A moving story of love, regret, truth, and consequences. A dark, compelling, and emotional read with a breathlessly shocking ending. This is a book you can’t put down once you start and that you won’t stop thinking about when it ends. . . . An incredible debut.”—Ilona Bannister, bestselling author of Five

    “A richly evocative literary thriller about the enduring shadow of youthful impulses, The Quiet Ones builds tension with the expert precision of a metronome. But there’s nothing steady or quiet about the way O’Sullivan’s narrative voice announces itself—assuredly, she takes her place next to Tana French and Liz Moore as an undeniable master of the genre. This is a stunning debut from an exciting new talent.”—Katy Hays, New York Times bestselling author of Saltwater

    “Intoxicating and propulsive, The Quiet Ones perfectly captures the darkness and delight of adolescence. A beautiful, brutal thriller: I loved it.”—Emilia Hart, New York Times bestselling author of The Sirens

    “I adored this haunting, enigmatic novel, which ties and then unpicks a bittersweet bond of friendship between three girls who feel like outsiders to everyone but one another. In the quiet menace of a rural town and its whispering school corridors, rumors billow and certainties fade, which kept me wrong-footed and guessing. Unsettling and otherworldly, this novel draws you in to the wild joy of youth and sorority, and its inevitable collapse into distrust and danger. Beautifully and precisely written, these characters have lingered in my thoughts, almost against my will. . . . As gleaming and unsettling and finely wrought as a magpie’s skull.”—Emma van Straaten, author of Creep

    “The Quiet Ones is a tense and enthralling study of the world of teenage girls. Compassionate and horrifying in equal measure, this story holds all the love, pain, loyalty, and secrecy of adolescence. I couldn’t put it down.”—Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin, author of Ordinary Saints

    Author

    © Robin Christian
    Tara O’Sullivan is based in London, although she mostly grew up in Cornwall with a short stint in Coronado, California. She has an MA in creative writing from the University of Exeter and was longlisted for the Discoveries Prize, a Curtis Brown Creative writing program in partnership with the Women’s Prize Trust and Audible. When she isn’t working on her own writing, she edits other people’s books as a freelance editor and proofreader. View titles by Tara O'Sullivan

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