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A searing novel from the USA Today bestselling author of Such a Bad Influence, follows a young woman whose life is upended when a journalist uncovers her mysterious and hidden upbringing.
From the outside, Catharine West's childhood sounds idyllic—balmy days spent running barefoot through the gardens, plucking ripe tomatoes straight from the vine as sunlight warmed her skin. Her parents built a life that was simple and community-focused, an ethos that soon attracted others in need of a change. For a time, Catharine's magnetic father was enough to keep the farm thriving and temptation outside its gates. But as she grew older, the farm and family she was raised to love faded into something darker, forcing Catharine to evolve with it.
It's now been a decade since Catharine abandoned the farm, and she has done her best to reinvent her life, until an email from a charismatic journalist interrupts her peace. Her first instinct is to ignore the stranger's prying questions—whether she knew about a mysterious "cult" in central Florida, whether she is the same "Catharine-with-an-A" who lived there for a time. But when she realizes the journalist knows far more than he's letting on, she reconsiders. If Catharine can stay one step ahead of him, she may be able to find the one person she never wanted to leave behind—her sister, Linna—and make sure her own secrets remain buried too.
Sharp-eyed and sweltering, Little One masterfully captures the dread of facing your deepest desires, when the hunger to become your best self threatens to drown out everything else. An achingly astute look at modern womanhood and wellness culture, it tackles the enduring question: How far would you go to be good?
"Fanaticism, loyalty, and wellness culture are blended into something vicious. Here, Muenter offers a truly compelling story that straddles the line between literary fiction and crime novel." ―Booklist
"Chills and entertains... Muenter's expertly moody, creepy-crawly narrative is precisely paced.. .[M]ight just keep the reader up all night, as the novel accelerates toward a satisfyingly surprising conclusion." ―Shelf Awareness
"A smart, fast-paced examination of wellness culture, disordered eating, addiction in all its forms, and family secrets. I loved this novel." ―Liz Moore, author of The God of the Woods
"With her newest, the bold and delicious Little One, Olivia Muenter both rewrites the victim narrative of the cult member and takes on our cultural obsession with true crime. Catharine is a brilliant, diamond-strong protagonist, but where will her confessions lead? A swift, smart, tantalizing novel. Olivia Muenter nails it." ―Amity Gaige, author of Heartwood
This information about Little One 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.
Olivia Muenter is a writer, reader, and co-host of the Bad on Paper podcast. She lives in an old house in the Hudson Valley with her family. Her first novel, Such a Bad Influence, was an instant USA Today bestseller.
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