Two wildly different women - one a grifter, the other an heiress - are brought together by the scam of a lifetime in a page-turner from the New York Times bestselling author of Watch Me Disappear.
Soon to be an Amazon Prime limited series, produced by and starring Nicole Kidman
Nina once bought into the idea that her fancy liberal arts degree would lead to a fulfilling career. When that dream crashed, she turned to stealing from rich kids in L.A. alongside her wily Irish boyfriend, Lachlan. Nina learned from the best: Her mother was the original con artist, hustling to give her daughter a decent childhood despite their wayward life. But when her mom gets sick, Nina puts everything on the line to help her, even if it means running her most audacious, dangerous scam yet.
Vanessa is a privileged young heiress who wanted to make her mark in the world. Instead she becomes an Instagram influencer - traveling the globe, receiving free clothes and products, and posing for pictures in exotic locales. But behind the covetable fa ade is a life marked by tragedy.
After a broken engagement, Vanessa retreats to her family's sprawling mountain estate, Stonehaven: a mansion of dark secrets not just from Vanessa's past, but from that of a lost and troubled girl named Nina. Nina's, Vanessa's, and Lachlan's paths collide here, on the cold shores of Lake Tahoe, where their intertwined lives give way to a winter of aspiration and desire, duplicity and revenge.
About the Author
Janelle Brown is the author of Watch Me Disappear, All We Ever Wanted Was Everything and This Is Where We Live. An essayist and journalist, she has written for Vogue, The New York Times, Elle, Wired, Self, the Los Angeles Times, Salon, and numerous other publications. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their two children.
Industry Reviews
"It's Dynasty meets Patricia Highsmith. . . . Duplicity abounds when two messed-up clans collide, and Brown's final multiple twists are doozies."
Washington Post
"I love a good con story - especially when I can't tell who's the actual mark and who's the real con artist. In Janelle Brown's compulsively readable Pretty Things, the good girls and the bad girls keep switching places in a story that will keep you turning pages till the end. Brown's latest novel has the same sharp observations that are her trademark-about shifting identities and the secrets we all keep."
Attica Locke, author of Heaven, My Home
