| Tara Isabella Burton |
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"[Burton] knows her way around good, evil and the eternally reader-friendly realm in between. Social Creature is a wicked original with echoes of the greats (Patricia Highsmith, Gillian Flynn).”
-Janet Maslin, The New York Times "Sharp as a shard of broken mirror...a formidable burlesque by Tara Isabella Burton. Her obvious model is Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley [but] Burton's tale has a great deal to say about the very tangible conventions of our time. Its superb dialogue and cutting sense of humor help it glide irresistibly toward the unnerving moment when Louise has to decide whether to kill again." -- New York Times Book Review Charles Finch, The New York Times “I read Social Creature in one breathless rush. It's a wild nightmarish ride through a New York City of decadence & broken dreams, faking it & fucking up, love & lies & lies & more lies. This is the missing link between Bret Easton Ellis & The Secret History” – Emma Flint, author of Baileys Prize longlisted Little Deaths "[A] Dark, stylish debut … Burton’s exceptional character work further elevates the tale; every individual is both victim and villain, imbuing their interactions with oceans of emotional subtext and creating conflict that propels the book toward its shocking yet inevitable conclusion … A thrilling and provocative crime novel, a devastating exploration of female insecurity, and a scathing indictment of society’s obsession with social media." -Kirkus, starred review ‘This is an irresistible novel about a toxic friendship taken to the extreme, full of dark New York glamour, decadence and bohemia … So many novels are compared to The Secret History and The Talented Mr. Ripley in the digital age, but in this case it’s absolutely justified’ -Elle UK “Burton has a gift for crafting suspenseful scenes while giving Louise and Lavinia each a fully formed inner life that makes them unforgettable.” —Stylecaster “Social Creature is getting comparisons to novels like Gone Girl for good reason. The gritty thriller mixes the glitz and glamour of NYC with the darkness of murder, jealousy, and a lethal friendship between two young women.” —Popsugar “Unflinching, cool, brutal. This book will make you its accomplice. You’ll go willingly.” —Georgia Clark, author of The Regulars “A compulsively readable, razor sharp novel for the social media age. Edith Wharton meets Patricia Highsmith.” —Carol Goodman, bestselling author of The Lake of Dead Languages and The Widow’s House “Devious and decadent. I couldn’t put it down.” --Courtney Maum, author of Touch and I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You "One of the most darkly shimmering books I've read this summer." --Constance Grady, Vox |
A Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection for Summer 2018 The New York Times, “17 Refreshing Books to Read This Summer” Vulture, “18 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Summer” Refinery29, “Brilliant Books to Bring to the Beach This Summer” New York Post, “The 20 Best Reds for Your Summer Break” Popsugar, “Best New Books for June” BBC Culture, "Ten Books to Read in June" Popsugar, "Best New Books for June" Brit + Co, "12 Page-Turning New Books to Read in June" Order US: Doubleday; Amazon; B&N; Powell's; Indiebound; Target; Walmart; iBooks Order UK: Pre-order UK: Bloomsbury, Amazon 
“What would Patricia Highsmith have made of today’s socialites with their squad goals and weaponized Instagrams? Probably a fictional stew of envy, tension, and mystery like the one Burton stirs together, crafting a story at once familiar and fresh, summery and shadowy.”
—Vulture “This fast-paced, stylish, dialogue- and character-driven debut…will definitvely ensnare readers. Diabolically playing on what we think we know about others and what we reveal about ourselves in the social-media age, it will give readers the creeps, too.” --Booklist ‘Lavish and wild and bohemian, Social Creature swept me up in its spell, spun me round the streets of New York and left me wanting more. This book is ALL THAT JAZZ and then some.’ -Ali Land, author of Good Me, Bad Me "Social Creature...is one of those rare literary thrillers that doesn’t sacrifice one element for the other. It’s fresh, fearless and exciting." -Amy Lloyd, author of The Innocent Wife ‘A tarred-and-feathered shining gorgeous bloody obsessive compulsive shining shining shining nightmare fever dream of a book: The Secret History meets 2018 Gatsby meets The Talented Mr. Ripley’ -Ella Risbridger "This book is dark and disturbing, but totally compelling. I've never loved such unlikeable characters more." —HelloGiggles "Party Monster meets The Talented Mr. Ripley...Mysterious and addictive." --Fodors, "The 22 Best Books to Read on Your Summer Vacation" ‘Like fireworks in the night sky, this explosive debut has darkness and glitz aplenty’ -Psychologies ‘A hugely compulsive read... Imagine Genuine Fraud meets The Secret History in the world of Gossip Girl…This book is beautiful, bohemian, seedy, sharp - and as devastating as it is decadent.’ -Lydia Ruffles, author of The Taste of Blue Light "Pulsing energy, polished language, perfectly drawn characters." -Library Journal |
"...spectacularly impressive ...[with] drily audacious prose ... A ridiculously assured first novel, told in an utterly original voice that doesn’t waver—even when it tackles body disposal."
-Alison Flood, The Observer "Fiendishly clever...an ingenious dark thriller in the Patricia Highsmith Tom Ripley mode...Louise and Lavinia are bold, brilliant characters. This devious, satisfying novel perfectly captures a very narrow slice of the Manhattan demimonde." -Publishers Weekly, starred review "Burton does a brilliant job of depicting the toxic charm of [Lavinia's] world, the way its artifice erodes one’s sense of reality...In 2009, the New York Times claimed: “Technology is rendering obsolete some classic narrative plot devices...." Burton have proved them wrong. Social Creature forensically unpicks what it means to possess someone else’s phone: not just to be able to read their messages, but to speak with their voice, send them somewhere, spend their money, steal their soul...Burton draws us in via her marvellous control of the material, the expert way she plays off Lavinia’s lavishness against Louise’s guile" - Carrie O'Grady, The Guardian "Burton's novel is Patricia Highsmith-meets-Gossip Girl, a mashup of a long con and the demimonde. But this is simplifying Burton’s magic trick; she has taken our insatiable love of grifter stories... and twisted them into sparkling, high-flying prose and an timely allegory about female friendship that is so propulsive that I read the entire book in two days (I even took it with me into the bathtub, as my waterlogged copy can attest)." -Rachel Syme, Barnes and Noble Review ‘With Social Creature, Tara Isabella Burton has achieved the impossible – a literary novel about social media in which the technology doesn’t jar with the narrative … If you enjoyed The Talented Mr Ripley, you’ll love this’ -Stylist "Social Creature remains distinct through its explicitly millennial perspective... [and] seems just too glamorous and magnetic to be true. [Burton's work] hammer home the mirror it lifts toward our irresponsible obsession with status and effortless living." -LA Review of Books "A deeply disturbing thriller for the Insta generation, with themes of sexuality, female insecurity and society’s dangerous obsession with social media’" -Stylist “A lot of books claim the mantle of Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley series, but this book actually delivers…Based on reactions so far, it could easily prove to be the breakaway hit of the summer, and is perfect vacation reading.” --Nashville Tennessean “A mesmerizing and beautifully lyrical debut about sexuality, identity, envy, confusion, and the creepy ways in which we swallow one another in attempt to become ourselves.” —Swan Huntley, author of The Goddesses and We Could Be Beautiful “Glittering, breathless, and precise---Social Creature fearlessly explores identity in the modern world through a dangerous and magnetic friendship. Tara Isabella Burton’s prose is electrifying, her characters dazzlingly bright. This novel will consume you.” —Danya Kukafka, bestselling author of Girl in Snow "This fast-paced, stylish, dialogue- and character-driven debut...will definitely ensnare readers. Diabolically playing on what we think we know about others and what we reveal about ourselves in the social-media age, it will give readers the creeps, too." --Booklist “Burton creates a tense world of escalating artifice that is choked with ambition and FOMO. The result is a pleasurable blend of anxiety and thrill that deepens with each new instance of narcissistic cruelty. Social Creature is a millennial update to Ripley, in a digital world where identity is even more porous and easily hijacked, and the fun of watching selves be invented is matched by the nastiness with which they are destroyed.” --Caite Dolan-Leach, author of Dead Letters |
For readers of Gillian Flynn and Donna Tartt, a dark, propulsive and addictive debut thriller, splashed with all the glitz and glitter of New York City.
They go through both bottles of champagne right there on the High Line, with nothing but the stars over them... They drink and Lavinia tells Louise about all the places they will go together, when they finish their stories, when they are both great writers-to Paris and to Rome and to Trieste...Lavinia will never go. She is going to die soon.
Louise has nothing. Lavinia has everything. After a chance encounter, the two spiral into an intimate, intense, and possibly toxic friendship. A Talented Mr. Ripley for the digital age, this seductive story takes a classic tale of obsession and makes it irresistibly new
Forthcoming June 2018 from Doubleday (US) and Bloomsbury/Raven (UK) with film rights pre-empted by Lionsgate.
Also forthcoming in translation in French (Le Seuil), Italian (Einaudi), Spanish (Rosa), German (DuMont), Dutch (De Geus), Russian (AST), Polish (Czarna Owca), Swedish (Modernista), Simplified Chinese (Beijing Adagio Culture), Complex Chinese (Faces Publications), and more.
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