Margins
When We Were Monsters book cover
When We Were Monsters
2025
First Published
3.84
Average Rating
400
Number of Pages

A simmering psychological thriller about a dead teacher at an elite boarding school, the students who had every reason to want her gone, and the tangled web of rivalry and romance concealing the truth—from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of All the Bright Places. At an elite boarding school, 8 students are selected for an exclusive program, but only one will walk away with a lifechanging 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 3 years earlier. Everyone has a compelling reason to be there—they all want a big break—but only the most ambitious will prevail as the students are eliminated one by one. Their mentor is the one and only Meredith Graffam, an enigmatic writer, director and actress, whose unorthodox teaching methods push them past the breaking point. Under Graffam's tutelage, the students reveal their darkest secrets, take unthinkable risks, and slowly start to turn on one another. But Graffam never expected they would turn on her . . . "A standout dark academia thriller.” — E. Lockhart, #1 New York Times bestselling author of We Were Liars and Genuine Fraud

Avg Rating
3.84
Number of Ratings
135
5 STARS
21%
4 STARS
47%
3 STARS
29%
2 STARS
1%
1 STARS
2%
goodreads

Author

Jennifer Niven
Jennifer Niven
Author · 12 books

Jennifer Niven is the Emmy Award-winning #1 New York Times and International bestselling author of ten books, including All the Bright Places and Holding up the Universe. Her books have been translated in over 75 languages, and All the Bright Places has won literary awards around the world, including the GoodReads Choice Award for Best Young Adult Fiction of 2015. It was named a Best Book of the Year by Time Magazine, NPR, the Guardian, Publisher's Weekly, YALSA, Barnes & Noble, BuzzFeed, the New York Public Library, and others, and was the #1 Kids' Indie Next Book for Winter '14-'15. The film starring Elle Fanning, Justice Smith, Luke Wilson, and Keegan-Michael Key, is now streaming on Netflix, with a script by Jennifer and Liz Hannah (The Post). Jennifer is currently at work on her fourth and fifth novels for young adults, with number three—Breathless—coming out September 29. She also oversees Germ, a literary and lifestyle web magazine for girls and boys age high school and beyond that celebrates beginnings, futures, and all the amazing and agonizing moments in between. Her previous works include four novels for adults, as well as three nonfiction books. She divides her time between Los Angeles and coastal Georgia with her husband, kids, and literary cats.

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