Louise O’Neill: Idol

To Samantha Miller’s young fans – her ‘girls’ – she’s everything. She’s an oracle, telling them how to live their lives, how to be happy, how to find and honour their ‘truth’. And her career is booming: she’s just hit three million followers, her new book Chaste has gone straight to the top of the bestseller lists and she’s appearing at sell-out events. Determined to speak her truth to her adoring fans, she’s written an essay about her sexual awakening as a teenager, with her female best friend, Lisa. She’s never told a soul but now she’s telling the world. The essay goes viral. But then – years since they last spoke – Lisa gets in touch to say that she doesn’t remember it that way at all. Her memory of that night is far darker. It’s Sam’s word against Lisa’s – so who gets to tell the story? Whose ‘truth’ is really a lie?

‘You put yourself on that pedestal, Samantha. You only have yourself to blame.’

‘IDOL is fresh, glamorous, and surprising, taking an issue we all care about and with a deft twist, recalibrating our position. Louise O’Neill is not afraid to take on a taboo but somehow always makes it utterly compelling. This is such an exciting book.’ Marian Keyes

‘I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed hating a character as much as I hated Samantha Miller. This fierce tale of toxic female friendship is unlike anything I have read. Highly original, unflinching and with a devilishly dark conclusion, I loved every page of it.’ Liz Nugent