When We Were Monsters

Jennifer Niven

$19.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

QTY:

English

Penguin
01 September 2025

Thrillers (Children's&YA); Romance & relationships stories (Children's&YA); Personal & social issues: death & bereavement (Children's&YA); Personal & social issues: sexuality & relationships (Children's&YA); Young Adult

The compulsive new thriller from multimillion-selling NYT bestselling author Jennifer Niven.

Eight students walk into an exclusive writers' retreat, but only one will walk out with a life-changing 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 her three years earlier.

Their mentor is Meredith Graffam, enigmatic writer, director and actress, whose compelling accounts of her own near-death experience on the same retreat decades before continue to spark controversy.

But this celebrated teacher is not all she seems, and her students gradually realize they are fighting for something much more primal than academic advantage. As Graffam's unorthodox teaching methods push them past breaking point, they reveal their darkest secrets, take unthinkable risks and slowly start to turn on one another. But Graffam never expected they would turn on her . . .

By: Jennifer Niven
Imprint: Penguin
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm, Spine: 35mm
Weight: 500g
ISBN: 9780241772492
ISBN 10: 0241772494
Pages: 432
Publication Date: 01 September 2025
Recommended Age: From 13 to 18 years
Audience: Young adult , Children/juvenile , Preschool (0-5) , English as a second language
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Jennifer Niven is the #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author of All the Bright Places, Holding Up the Universe and Breathless. Her books have been translated into over 75 languages and won literary awards around the world. She divides her time between coastal Georgia and Paris, with her husband and literary cats. Find her at jenniferniven.com and on social.

Reviews for When We Were Monsters

Niven’s signature ingredients: deep sensitivity, romance, poetry, and misunderstood, passionate characters. Now add a gothic mansion, a dangerous cliffside and a charismatic genius— and she’s serving up a standout dark academia thriller. * E. Lockhart, #1 New York Times bestselling author of We Were Liars *