Skip to the content

The Maidens

St Christopher's College, Cambridge, is a closed world to most.

For Mariana Andros - a group therapist struggling through her private grief - it's where she met her late husband. For her niece, Zoe, it's the tragic scene of her best friend's murder.

As memory and mystery entangle Mariana, she finds a society full of secrets, which has been shocked to its core by the murder of one of its own.

Because behind its idyllic beauty is a web of jealousy and rage which emanates from an exclusive set of students known only as The Maidens. A group under the sinister influence of the enigmatic professor Edward Fosca.

A man who seems to know more than anyone about the murders - and the victims. And the man who will become the prime suspect in Mariana's investigation - an obsession which will unravel everything...

The Maidens is a story of love, and of grief - of what makes us who we are, and what makes us kill.

Praise for The Maidens:

"Alex Michaelides’s long-awaited next novel, 'The Maidens,' is finally here...the premise is enticing and the elements irresistible." The New York Times

"Fans of The Secret History will fall hard for The Maidens, Michaelides’ dazzling chaser to 2019’s bestselling The Silent Patient, a challenging act to follow...Layered in dreamlike references to Greek mythology and ancient ritualized murders, this clever literary page-turner firmly establishes Michaelides as an unstoppable force in the thriller space." - Esquire

"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

"A tense, original story" The Daily Mail

“Infused with Victorian-era British poetry and Greek mythology, Maidens turns the highbrow into the highly readableEntertainment Weekly  

"Combining Greek mythology with propulsive suspense, this gripping, twisty tale is the perfect way to start off your summer reading with a bang" Book Riot

"Nothing short of genius." Woman & Home

"Elegant, sinister, stylish and thrilling. The Maidens answers the weighty question, how do you go about following one of the biggest thrillers of the past decade? You write something even better" - Chris Whitaker, New York Tines bestselling author of We Begin at the End

"Stunning... The intelligent, cerebral plot finds contemporary parallels in Euripides's tragedies, Jacobean dramas such as The Duchess of Malfi, and Tennyson's poetry. Michaelides is on a roll' Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Stylishly written with a great sense of place, bestselling author Michaelides’s second novel is a compelling and complex psychological thriller of the highest order." Irish Independent

"Gripping scenes" Time Magazine

"Michaelides’ stage-setting skills are as masterful here, as they were in The Silent Patient; another tense, cleverly twisted winner." Booklist, starred review

"Destined for the bestseller list." Newsweek

'his writing, especially his characterisation, possesses a unique sparkle and more promise than most other writers.’ Daily Mail

"Page-turner." Time

“What a thrilling, heart in throat ride. A great triumph.” Stephen Fry

‘He’s achieved the almost impossible and surpassed The Silent Patient in this compelling literary thriller, which grips from intriguing start to horrifying finish. It takes a rare talent to take inspiration from Tennyson, Homer and Euripides and weave them into such a contemporary and compelling story, and he has more than achieved this. A brilliant achievement.’ Harriet Tyce

'A deliciously dark, elegant, utterly compulsive read — with a twist that blew my mind.  I loved this even more than I loved The Silent Patient and that’s saying something.' Lucy Foley

"Alex Michaelides hits a home run in his sophomore effort. The Maidens is a page-turner of the first order." David Baldacci

"The greatest campus novel since The Secret History by Donna Tartt." Tony Parsons

Agent: Sam Copeland
Publisher:
Territories:
Other Alex Michaelides Titles