Kalliope, and Real Fiction. She holds a master’s degree from The Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, where she earned a fellowship. In her other professional life, as a nonprofit executive, she has raised over a half-billion dollars in philanthropic support to improve individuals’ quality of life and access to opportunities. A longtime New Yorker, Merle now lives in Scarborough, Maine with her family.
Her new novel is A Dangerous Friendship.
At CrimeReads Merle tagged four irrestible novels that "expose the shadow side of intimacy, the thin line between attraction and peril that reflects our darkest longings." One title on the list:
The Girls — Emma ClineRead about another novel on Merle's list.
Evie is fourteen, restless, and hungry to belong when she is captivated by Suzanne, a magnetic, feral woman and petty thief who lives by her wits and daring. Evie is so vulnerable and eager to be loved that she joins Suzanne and her band of raggedy dressed girls who live on the streets of sunny Oakland, California. With blind trust in Suzanne, Evie follows her to a remote farmhouse where she is drawn into a cult led by the mesmerizing Russell. Suzanne is his muse, and her appetite for danger enthralls and chills Evie, who soon becomes entangled in acts she can’t undo. Inspired by the Manson family murders, this novel is a haunting look at manipulation, vulnerability, and the dark seductions of female friendship, masterfully written by Emma Cline.
The Girls is among Kate Robards's five top books about cults.
--Marshal Zeringue
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