A dark, sexy noir about the intensity of female relationships—whether mother to daughter or friend to friend—that lies behind the hedgerows of beautifully manicured Los Angeles, from the New York Times bestselling author of CALIFORNIA

WOMAN NO. 17
by Edan Lepucki
Hogarth, May 2017

High in the Hollywood Hills, writer Lady Daniels has decided to take a break from her husband. She’s going to need a hand with her young son if she’s ever going to finish her memoir. In comes S., a magnetic young artist, who will live in the secluded guest house out back, care for Lady’s young toddler, and also keep a watchful eye on her older, teenage son. S. performs her day job beautifully, quickly drawing the entire family into her orbit, and becoming a confidante for Lady. But as the summer wears on, S.’s connection to Lady’s older son takes a disturbing, and possibly destructive, turn. Lady and S. will move closer to one another as they both threaten to harm the things they hold most dear. Darkly comic, twisty and tense, this mesmerizing new novel defies expectation and proves Edan Lepucki to be one of the most talented and exciting voices of her generation.

Edan Lepucki is the New York Times bestselling author of the novel California (Little, Brown 2014) as well as the novella If You’re Not Yet Like Me. A contributing editor and staff writer at the Millions, she has also published fiction and nonfiction inMcSweeney’s, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Cut, and elsewhere. She is the founder of Writing Workshops Los Angeles.