All These Beautiful Strangers: A Novel

Written by Elizabeth Klehfoth

Narrated by Caitlin Kelly, Xe Sands and Greg Tremblay

""This is going to be big."" -Entertainment Weekly

“Juicy, clever, and beguiling.""- Cecily von Ziegsar, author of the Gossip Girl novels

A young woman haunted by a family tragedy is caught up in a dangerous web of lies and deception involving a secret society in this highly charged, addictive psychological thriller that combines the dishy gamesmanship of Gossip Girl with the murky atmosphere of The Secret History.

One summer day, Grace Fairchild, the beautiful young wife of real estate mogul Alistair Calloway, vanished from the family’s lake house without a trace, leaving behind her seven-year old daughter, Charlie, and a slew of unanswered questions.

Years later, seventeen-year-old Charlie still struggles with the dark legacy of her family name and the mystery surrounding her mother. Determined to finally let go of the past, she throws herself into life at Knollwood, the prestigious New England school she attends. Charlie quickly becomes friends with Knollwood’s ""it"" crowd.

Charlie has also been tapped by the A’s—the school’s elite secret society well known for terrorizing the faculty, administration, and their enemies. To become a member of the A’s, Charlie must play The Game, a semester-long, diabolical high-stakes scavenger hunt that will jeopardize her friendships, her reputation, even her place at Knollwood.

As the dark events of past and present converge, Charlie begins to fear that she may not survive the terrible truth about her family, her school, and her own life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jul 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9780062849489

Elizabeth Klehfoth

Elizabeth Klehfoth grew up in Elkhart, Indiana. She received her BFA in creative writing from Chapman University and her MFA in creative writing from Indiana University, where she taught fiction writing and composition. She currently lives in Los Angeles. All These Beautiful Strangers is her first novel.

Reviews for All These Beautiful Strangers

[Jennifer Rogers · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The characters were my favourite. Ending was a bit predictable..

[Cici Haus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very engaging. I’m not sure the portrayal of the wealthy elite and boarding schools was exactly accurate, but a well told story that keeps you on your toes

[Jamie Stansbury-Westeman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I couldn't put this book down. It kept you guessing. I needed to know what happen to Grace. Who was a good wife and mother. I'm so glad Charlie ,Grace daughter found out the truth in the end. What Charlie did was very brave. In a way it's a little heart breaking to find out what really happened. But glad Charlie got the truth and brought down the A's

[Ali Buzz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I only read thrillers and have read about 600+ thrillers with that being said not gonna say this book is gold, best I ever read but it is Definitely one of my favourites. I gave it 5 starts.
I really liked the characters even if some of them weren’t likeable I thought everyone was written well.
I loved the story line. You do get 3 different POV but I thought it was a great way of you getting to know what happened in the past, what’s happening in the present and everything that led up to it.
I liked the whole prep school thing and the A’s and how everything came together at the end.
I actually didn’t figure out the story but that’s also probably because I wasn’t trying to and wasn’t so focused on trying to figure it out, I just actually wanted to read and enjoy it. Overall I did give it 5 stars and I myself thing I’m a pretty harsh critic when it comes to rating thrillers.
This was a bit different and I overall really did enjoy it. :)

[kbranfield-837433 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Weaving back and forth in time, All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth is an engaging young adult mystery.

In 2007, seven year old Charlotte "Charlie" Calloway's mother Grace Fairchild vanished without a trace. From a working class background, Grace's marriage to wealthy Alistair Calloway was rather volatile at the time of her disappearance.  The subsequent investigation into the case yields an unexpected clue that points to Grace leaving of her own volition.  However, troubling evidence at the family's lakeside home casts a few doubts on this supposition.  With no new leads, Grace's disappearance remains a mystery and life for Alistair, Charlie and younger sister, Seraphina slowly returned to normal.

In 2017, Charlie is in her junior year at the prestigious Knollwood Prep School where she is elated to be chosen as an initiate for the elite, secret society, the "A's". She, her cousin, Leo and best friend Drew are very excited about becoming a full-fledged member of the club. In order to secure their positions,  each of them must complete the three tasks that have been assigned to them. As Charlie begins her quest to become an "A", her Uncle Hank unexpectedly shows up Knollwood to let her know he has found a very troubling set of pictures that might be linked to her mother's disappearance. Reluctantly drawn into uncovering the truth about what happened to Grace, Charlie stumbles onto shocking information that could destroy her family.

Charlie is self-absorbed, spoiled and entitled. She gives little thought to anyone but herself and quite frankly, it is unsurprising she has few friends.  Charlie has trust issues so she comes across as somewhat standoffish and due to her family's wealth and position in society, she is a bit arrogant. Determined to become a full-fledged member of the "A's", Charlie eagerly fulfills the first two tasks assigned to her.

As she tries to solve the mystery of Grace's disappearance, Charlie becomes reacquainted with  her mother's best friend, Claire, and Claire's son, Greyson. A lot of the details that Charlie discovers occur by happenstance since the information literally falls in her lap.  She does track down every lead she finds and through a series of startling coincidences, Charlie finds a stunning connection that eventually reveals the truth about what happened to her mother.

All These Beautiful Strangers is an engrossing mystery although the cast of unlikable characters and unpalatable dating game are a bit off-putting. The flashbacks about Grace are more interesting than the story arc in the present.  While there are some unexpected plot twists, savvy readers will most likely have little trouble figuring out the truth about Grace's  disappearance. In the end, the only real uncertainty swirls around Charlie and her unexpected chance at redemption. All in all, this enjoyable debut by Elizabeth Klehfoth will appeal to both older teens and adult readers.

[dcoward_6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another suspenseful novel with a possibly unreliable, unlikeable narrator filled with twists and turns, I can see why this was compared to Gone Girl. While Gone Girl was a masterpiece, this is still a very likeable debut novel. Charlie's mother Grace disappeared 10 years ago. Now she is in the process of joining a secret society at her private school for the very rich (and a few scholarship students) when the past starts draw Charlie back in.

[katherinegregg · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Charlie Calloway, a 17 year old at a fancy boarding school on the east coast, digs into her family past. Charlie's mother, the beautiful Grace Fairchild who came from the wrong side of the tracks, disappeared ten years ago and her body was never found. The story is told through flashing back between Grace's life and Charlie's present day life at Knollwood, the school her wealthy father Alistair also attended. Charlie becomes part detective as she pieces together old photos and listens to detective transcripts to uncover a murder that happened at Knollwood back in her father's day and the murder of her mother.