The Maidens

Product Information

There was precious little love in her childhood. She had an elder sister, but they weren’t close. Elisa was seven years her senior, with no interest in her shy younger sibling. And so Mariana would spend the long summer months alone, playing by herself in the garden under the stern eye of the housekeeper. No wonder, then, she grew up a little isolated, and uneasy around other people. Mariana mentions how her father thought Sebastian was a gold-digger and threatened to disinherit her to prevent her from marrying him. When you read this, the assumption is that her father is being a jerk, but I guess it’s possible he saw what Mariana couldn’t see. Ultimately, he doesn’t follow through on his promise to disinherit her, which may have indicated he wasn’t trying to be mean, just trying to protect her. Again, Mariana is a trained psychotherapist, the book uses psychology abundantly when it's convenient but absolutely no time is spent treating this trauma and topic with due care and respect. There is no discussion for treatment and recovery, victims, or even the behaviors that might enable this - grooming, exploitation of grief over Zoe's parent's loss, manipulation, narcissism, an abuser's perceived god complex, power hunger, and inadequacy issues, etc. None of that is explored with Sebastian, the abuser, and we're left uncertain about Zoe's mental health and future. I say this again because it merits repeating, it is clear that Michaelides struggled to write from a female character's perspective and he did a poor job of it. This is not authentic to any female perspective I have ever read or would have and simply fails to do justice to the harrowing pain and experience suffered by both Zoe and Mariana. But to enjoy this story, it's important to go in with the right expectations, namely that it's no The Silent Patient. How could it be, right? What are the chances you would write a book—your first book—and have it be hailed by many as the greatest thriller ever, then write another book and have it be the greatest again? Pretty much none (no offense to Alex Michaelides). This doesn't have the compulsive readability of his first book nor the jaw-dropping reveal, but I still found it to be an entertaining thriller in its own right. in fact, a lot of this book feels like the author is shoehorning in details from his own personal cache of 'stuff he knows about,' without regard for their narrative utility: psychotherapy, the beauty of the greek islands, greek mythology, the greek language. these recurring motifs take up a lot of real estate at the expense of other story elements, like character development, and they don't do much to enhance the larger story.

Fate and Nature were also given character roles in this story. Fred's uncanny premonitions, the staring swan, Mariana's repeated supplications to the implacable Demeter, and the sudden storm that erased Sebastian from her life - it was as if man and Nature were in battle with one another, and for once, although Mariana would not have believed it, the Gods were on her side. From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Patient comes a spellbinding tale of psychological suspense, weaving together Greek mythology, murder, and obsession, that further cements “Michaelides as a major player in the field” ( Publishers Weekly).And, he has an alibi-6 students who claim to have been revising with him until 10 PM-6 beautiful, favored women, referred to as "The Maidens". red and yellow. His brown eyes, partly disguised by his oldfashioned steel-rimmed glasses, brimmed with intelligence As well as the group therapy element Mariana was supposedly heavily involved in. The come-about of the Maidens. Mariana’s relationship with Zoe. The trauma she’s suffered from her husbands death. She was on her knees, on the floor, surrounded by boxes. She was making yet another halfhearted attempt to sort through Sebastian’s belongings. There’s definitely a flavour of The Secret History to Alex Michaelides’s second novel … The Maidens is a compelling read, and delivers its Hellenic thrills in style.’ SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

instead setting up businesses to help transport muchneeded goods—food and other essentials—to vulnerable Professor Fosca frowned. There was an unmistakable flash of anger in his eyes. He stared at her. "Do you think you can see inside my soul?"I loved how Michaelides wove together all of the different aspects of this story. I thought it was wonderfully-crafted and it absolutely kept me engaged throughout. I had to remind myself to come up for air!

How do you go about following one of the biggest thrillers of the past decade? You write something even better.’ CHRIS WHITAKER, bestselling author of WE BEGIN AT THE END The Maidens is an intricately plotted, mystery-thriller for the discerning reader. It’s an atmospheric story set on Cambridge University’s campus merging cliff-hanging twists with artful suspense." Combining Greek mythology with propulsive suspense, this gripping, twisty tale is the perfect way to start off your summer reading with a bang." Mariana is called to Cambridge when her niece Zoe's closest friend is brutally murdered. Mariana soon realizes that this idyllic campus of higher learning conceals something sinister lurking beneath the surface. The dead girl was a member of The Maidens, a secret society of beautiful female students led by the charismatic Professor Fosca. Mariana immediately suspects Fosca and becomes obsessed with proving his guilt. She must stop him before more innocent lives are lost.

Detailed Plot Summary

The irony that Mariana ended up becoming a group therapist was not lost on her. But paradoxically, this ambivalence about others served her well. In group therapy, the group, not the individual, is the focus of treatment: to be a successful group therapist is—to some extent—to be invisible. Mariana was still in love with him—that was the problem. Even though she knew she’d never see Sebastian again—even though he was gone for good—she was still in love and didn’t know what to do with all this love of hers. There was so much of it, and it was so messy: leaking, spilling, tumbling out of her, like stuffing falling out of an old rag doll that was coming apart at the seams. Accompanying the housekeeper on shopping trips to the crowded and frenetic market in the center of Athens always made Mariana nervous. And she was relieved, and a little surprised, to return home unscathed. Large groups continued to intimidate her as she grew older. At school, she found herself on the sidelines, feeling as if she didn’t fit in with her classmates. And this feeling of not fitting in was hard to shake. Years later, in therapy, she came to understand that the schoolyard was simply a macrocosm of the family unit: meaning her uneasiness was less about the here and now—less about the schoolyard itself, or the market in Athens, or any other group in which she might find herself—and more to do with the family in which she grew up, and the lonely house she grew up in. I could swoon about this book for days, but I will spare you that and wrap up by saying, I loved this! Tara had just confided in Zoe, that their Greek Tragedy Professor, Edward Fosca, had threatened to kill her. But, the investigators do not believe what Zoe has to say.

because here's what's not in his personal cache of 'stuff he knows about:' creating believable characters. He has an alibi, but not one that Mariana considers to be reliable; his secret society of young women students, known as The Maidens, could easily lie to protect him. I’m not much for stories about secret societies typically, but I thought the plot twist in Michaelides’ previous novel The Silent Patient was clever enough that I really wanted to read something else from him. After lengthy conversations with Zoe, Mariana begins to suspect that Edward Fosca, a popular and captivating Greek Tragedy Professor, may in fact be the culprit.the only thing that really bothered me about this book, though, are the interactions between the MC and men. honestly, there are four separate male characters who throw themselves at her. but of course, she ‘doesnt know how beautiful she is (this is mentioned more than once - major eye roll),’ so she declines their advances and they either A) get very angry and offended by it, or B) they wont take no for an answer and consistently pester her. not to mention all of these interactions could be removed from the book with no consequence - i have no idea what purpose they serve. one time i could overlook, but multiple occurrences is just very poor characterisation and bad writing. Stunning... The intelligent, cerebral plot finds contemporary parallels in Euripides's tragedies, Jacobean dramas such as The Duchess of Malfi, and Tennyson's poetry. The devastating ending shows just how little the troubled Mariana knows about the human psyche or herself. Michaelides is on a roll." this is one of my most anticipated releases for the year and im so relieved it didnt let me down. i honestly inhaled this. AM is the master of short chapters. he truly understands how to get readers to say, ‘just one more and then i will go to bed.’ and then all of the sudden the story is over in the blink of an eye - thats how much the content and pacing hooked me. i loved the greek mythology and poetry, i loved the old-fashioned cambridge vibes, and i loved how those created the most compelling of mysteries. Zoe is the one who insists and guilts Mariana into staying, saying that it’s what Sebastian would have done.