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A Novel
by Penny Zang
The Virgin Suicides meets I Have Some Questions For You in a dual timeline suspense following one woman as she begins to uncover the truth of the death of her estranged best friend and the Sylvia Plath adoring sad girls they attended college with decades ago, all while holding a secret that will slowly unravel her new, suburban dream life.
Some stories refuse to stay buried.
For best friends Nikki and Sadie, college was supposed to be a fresh start, a way to blast Courtney Love from car speakers and leave their youth behind. But along with sadness-obsessed girls and intrusive professors, a dark story plagues their small all-women's school: the Sylvia Club, a campus legend surrounding the deaths of multiple Sylvia Plath-adoring students, all written off as suicides. Aspiring writer Nikki finds herself drawn to the tragic tales, so much so that dead girls begin to haunt her dark imagination. As she digs deeper, Nikki soon suspects there's much more to the story - a suspicion that will lead to a tragedy of its own, one that will tear her and Sadie apart.
It's been nearly twenty years since Sadie last saw her estranged friend. Now, Nikki is dead, and when Sadie ends up pregnant by Nikki's grieving husband not long after the funeral, she finds herself stepping into her ex-best friend's seemingly perfect life. But the longer Sadie lives in Nikki's eerily preserved home, the more she sees her appear and soon, she's convinced that Nikki is sending her clues from beyond the grave. Because it seems Nikki never stopped looking for answers about what happened to the girls of the Sylvia Club, and she may have been its latest victim.
"Zang's compelling debut delves insightfully into topics such as friendship, grief, and Plath's place in literature as well as exploring the dangers of romanticizing suicide...Book group clubbers will come for the thoughtful exploration of serious themes, while fans in search of character-rich, academia-set suspense tales will enjoy the twisty plot." —Library Journal
"Doll Parts is the most mesmerizing and original book I've read in a long time. It's eerie and addictive, a story that pulls you in and won't let go. Penny Zang has a gift, and I would read anything she writes." ―Samantha Downing, Internationally bestselling author of My Lovely Wife and Too Old For This
"Doll Parts is a dark, atmospheric exploration of friendship, exploitation, and female rage. Delving into the most vulnerable and turbulent stages of womanhood, it's perfect for fans of Megan Abbott and Ashley Audrain." ―Robyn Harding, International bestselling author of The Drowning Woman
This information about Doll Parts was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Penny Zang is an English professor at Greenville Technical College and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from West Virginia University. Her work has appeared in New Ohio Review, Louisville Review, Superstition Review, and elsewhere. She lives in Greenville, South Carolina with her husband and son.
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