{"product_id":"the-playground-a-novel","title":"The Playground: A Novel","description":"\"Beautifully written and suffused with dread. Jane\nShemilt's domestic settings are seductively vivid, and the final outcome is\nprofoundly shocking and terrifying.\" — Gilly Macmillan, New\nYork Times bestselling author of The Nanny\nBig Little Lies meets Lord of The Flies in this electrifyingly twisty psychological thriller, follow-up to Jane Shemilt’s breakout debut The Daughter.\nOver the course of a long, hot summer in London, the lives of three very different married couples collide when their children join the same tutoring circle, resulting in illicit relationships, shocking violence, and unimaginable fallout.\nThere’s Eve, a bougie earth mother with a well-stocked trust fund; she has three little ones, a blue-collar husband and is obsessed with her Instagrammable recipes and lifestyle. And Melissa, a successful interior designer whose casually cruel banker husband is careful not to leave visible bruises; she curates her perfectly thin body so closely she misses everything their teenage daughter is hiding. Then there’s Grace, a young Zimbabwean immigrant, who lives in high-rise housing project with her two children and their English father Martin, an award-winning but chronically broke novelist; she does far more for her family than she should have to.\nAs the weeks go by, the couples become very close; there are barbecues, garden parties, a holiday at a country villa in Greece. Resentments flare. An affair begins. Unnoticed, the children run wild. The couples are busily watching each other, so distracted and self-absorbed that they forget to watch their children. No one sees the five children at their secret games or realize how much their family dynamics are changing until tragedy strikes.\nThe story twists and then twists again while the three families desperately search for answers. It’s only as they begin to unravel the truth of what happened over the summer that they realize evil has crept quietly into their world.\nBut has this knowledge come too late?\n\"Countless psychological thrillers get compared to Big Little Lies; Shelmilt's is the real deal.\" — People\u003cbr\u003eASIN: 0062939424\u003cbr\u003eVSKU: RDV.0062939424.G\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Good\u003cbr\u003eAuthor\/Artist:Shemilt, Jane\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote:\u003c\/b\u003e Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Notes\u003c\/b\u003e: This book is in good condition with very minimal damage. Pages may have minimal notes or highlighting. Cover image on the book may vary from photo. Ships out quickly in a secure plastic mailer.  \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Reliant Bookstore","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46299231420593,"sku":"RDV.0062939424.G","price":6.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0544\/8872\/7729\/files\/0062939424-0.jpg?v=1760117926","url":"https:\/\/www.reliantbookstore.com\/products\/the-playground-a-novel","provider":"Reliant Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}