The Elizas: A Novel

Written by Sara Shepard

Narrated by Jayme Mattler

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From the New York Times bestselling author of the Pretty Little Liars series comes a thriller “blending Hitchcock, S.J. Watson, and Ruth Ware” (Entertainment Weekly) filled with half-truths, suppressed memories, and ingenious twists.

When Eliza Fontaine is rescued from the bottom of a hotel pool just a few weeks before her first novel is going to be published, her family assumes that it’s another failed suicide attempt. But Eliza swears she was pushed. The problem is she remembers little of that night, a result of the large quantity of alcohol she consumed and a worsening struggle with memory loss due to a brain tumor. Feeling ignored and vulnerable, she decides she must find the truth of what actually happened.

As she searches for answers, something very peculiar begins to happen: The people closest to her start to confuse the events in her novel with those in her real life. The dividing line between fact and fiction seems to be dissolving, and even Eliza is becoming uncertain about where her protagonist’s story ends and hers begins. She glimpses a shadowy presence hovering nearby, a mirror image of herself…but is it all in her head or is there really someone following her, studying her, wishing to do her harm? Perhaps the answers to all her questions already exist in the pages of her novel, if only she could put the pieces together in the right way.

The Elizas is a heart-pounding, Hitchcockian double narrative composed of secrets, lies, false memories, and an unreliable narrator you’ll never forget.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Apr 17, 2018
• ISBN: 9781508253600

Sara Shepard

Sara Shepard is the author of two New York Times bestselling series, Pretty Little Liars and The Lying Game, as well as the series The Perfectionists. She graduated from New York University and has an MFA from Brooklyn College.

Reviews for The Elizas

[Angela Hawkshaw · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Boring and weak characters. I did not enjoy this book at all.

[LeAnn Standlee · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Suspenseful. Still unsure of reality versus fiction.

[Pamela · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Intriguing. It was a bit far fetched, but held my interest throughout and I did enjoy it.

[dreesie-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Eliza, a brain tumor survivor, wrote a novel in just a few days after coming home from the hospital. It is now about to be published, when she wakes up in a Palm Springs hospital. Her family tells her she was pulled from the bottom of a hotel pool, drunk, by a passerby. She cannot swim, and jumping into pools was the main symptom of her brain tumor.As her book approaches pub day, and as strange things continue to happen, she begins to truly question her sanity, and even goes for an MRI just to know for sure that her tumor is back.And then she discovers that nothing is as she thinks it is.———This book was fine. It's somewhere between a mystery and a thriller. I found the first half a little jarring, as the story went back and forth between this novel and Eliza's novel (The Dots--a painfully cutesy yet such a believable title it made me laugh). So, a novel within a novel. Maybe on paper it would not have been quite so jarring, but on audio I kept forgetting what novel I was listening to until a character's name came up or Dorothy began speaking. Jayme Mattler narrates, and her Dorothy voice was distinctive.Will I remember this in a year? Probably not, but it was a nice palate cleanser.

[amandanan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting concept of someone trying to erase your memories -- this entire book reminded me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind & We Were Liars. The dual narrative of the main character and her protagonist is an interesting concept.

[rmarcin-630843 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Eliza is a troubled young woman. She is recovering from a brain tumor, and has just finished her first novel, The Dots. The Dots is a story of Dot and her aunt Dorothy. Dot idolizes Dorothy, but doesn't realize that Dorothy is not the best person for her. Eliza's parents and stepsister are concerned that Eliza is suicidal.
This novel is billed as being Hitchcockian in its tone, but I never got the feeling of suspense and foreboding that Hitchcock was able to evoke in his films. I figured out what was happening with Dot and Dorothy very early in the novel. I didn't know the final outcome, but I wasn't heavily invested in the book, nor in the characters.

[over.the.edge · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Elizas????By Sara Shepard 2018Atria BooksEliza Fontaine awakes in a hospital, after being found in a swimming pool at The Tranquility Resort in Palm Springs, insisting that this was not another suicide attempt.......she was pushed.Her family is frustrated with Elizas suicidal attempts and want her to go to a facility or hospital. But Eliza insists she will find out who pushed her and why.....Meanwhile, Eliza has been working on her debut novel 'The Dots' about a young girl who has a brain tumor that affects her emotions, and lives with a wealthy Aunt. As she writes 'The Dots', her memory lapses and problems begin to mimic her own life....and seem to be based on herself...I really enjoyed this provocative novel and found Eliza to be interesting and compelling. Some of the dialogue is so good....Sara Shepard is the author of 'Pretty Little Liars' series, among others.Recommended!!

[terran_9 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I listened to this on cd, and was tempted to stop listening in the early part. It was very slow going to begin with, what with trying to figure out what was going on with Eliza. Was she trying to commit suicide or did someone push her into a swimming pool? Was her family out to get her or trying to protect her? This story alternated with the story of "The Dots," a book Eliza had written about the experience with a brain tumor of a girl named Dot and Dot's much-loved aunt, Dorothy, who had disappeared from her life after the surgery. How much of Dot's story was also Eliza's? As the book progressed, I got much more involved in what happened to Eliza and could relate to her more. Well done.

[mishker-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Budding novelist Eliza Fontaine has a complicated past and things become even more complicated when she is found at the bottom of the pool at the Tranquility resort in Palm Springs. Eliza's family believes the worst, another failed suicide attempt, just like the previous attempts before her brain tumor was removed. However, Eliza is positive that she had been pushed this time. No one seems to believe her except for her rescuer, Desmond who thinks he saw someone fleeing the scene. Eliza desperately tries to put the pieces together from her night at the Tranquility, but she has severe memory lapses. The more she tries to dig, the more pieces she finds missing. With the impending release of her novel, The Dots, Eliza keeps finding more similarities between herself and her main character, Dot, and has trouble separating the fact from fiction.The Elizas is a thrilling, addictive mystery that dives into the mysteries of the mind and memory. From the beginning Eliza is presented as an unreliable narrator, however that didn't stop me from sympathizing with her cause and rooting for her to untangle the web of lies and foggy memories that surrounded her. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to read both Eliza's narrative as well as her book, The Dots. The story line playfully and ingeniously bounced back and forth between the two plots interweaving Eliza's and Dot's story in the reader's mind just as they had become entwined in Eliza's. At first The Dots seems like a nice bonus story, although as the book progresses, I found that The Dots offered more insight into Eliza's character than her own narrative. Overall, a tantalizing story with intriguing characters that will keep you on your toes. This book was received for free in return for an honest review.