Stargazer

The lines between love, envy and obsession blur in Laurie Petrou's utterly enthralling, unceasingly tense second novel. A darkly compelling coming-of-age thriller, perfect for fans of Donna Tartt's The Secret History, or Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies.

"A chilling look at the fine line between love and obsession, longing and desperation, ambition and mania... These women will haunt you."  -  Gin Phillips, author of The Well and the Mine

Diana Martin has lived her life in the shadow of her sadistic older brother. She quietly watches the family next door, enthralled by celebrity fashion designer Marianne Taylor and her feted daughter, Aurelle. She wishes she were a 'Taylor girl'.

By the summer of 1995, the two girls are at university together, bonded by a mutual desire to escape their wealthy families and personal tragedies and forge new identities. They are closer than lovers, intoxicated by their own bond, falling into the hedonistic seduction of the woods and the water at a remote university that is more summer camp than campus. 

But when burgeoning artist Diana has a chance at fame, cracks start to appear in their friendship. To what lengths is Diana willing to go to secure her own stardom?

"Petrou's lyrical writing is so powerful that I could smell the pines and feel the snow on my skin as she effortlessly transports the reader to 90s Muskoka."  -  Samantha M. Bailey, Toronto Life