by Sara Shepard
“No, you don’t understand,” I start. “It’s . . .” But then I trail off.
Drop it, a voice in my head tells me. Finally I have real answers, and here I go turning them on their heads. A woman notable only because she looked like someone else has just unburdened herself to me—that’s all this is. I’ve hunted down the truth because it has haunted me and because I have something of a disease, but I’ve also romanticized the truth, too. Romanticized Eleanor. How could I not?
I think of all the stories she told me about her life, stories I desperately wanted to be real. All her adventures. All her dalliances. She might have been mad and damaged and eccentric and psychotic, but she had a magical imagination, and I suppose that’s something I should treasure. Only someone like Eleanor could make me believe in the impossible. Only someone like Eleanor could shape-shift, cajole, wrangle, manipulate, poison, and come back from the dead.
But Stella had said it best—she hadn’t. That was just the myth she wanted me to believe, not what was real.
I stand on my tiptoes, meeting Stella’s gaze again. She gives me another short nod as if to say, Yes. Good choice. And then, turning on her heel as elegantly as Eleanor used to, she heads for the doorway and disappears.
I let her go, knowing I’ll probably never see her again. From now on, she’ll only be marvelous, effervescent fiction.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many, many thanks to many, many people for their help with this book. First and foremost, huge thanks to my editor, Johanna Castillo, who took a chance on this manuscript and steered it in the right direction with intuition and wisdom. To Andy McNicol, who championed the idea early on and probably read at least twenty-three versions of the novel. To my early readers: Lauren Acampora and Cari Luna—it’s very nerve-wracking to place a half-formed novel into the hands of such smart people, but your comments and suggestions were invaluable. To Michael Gremba, my husband, who stayed with me in the neighborhood in Burbank that served as the inspiration for Eliza’s neighborhood in the novel, and to Ali Shepard, my sister, with whom I took my one and only trip to Palm Springs. To my parents, Shep and Mindy, whose old-Hollywood influence (and absinthe drinking) gave this book its vibe. Also to Kristian and Henry—not because you really helped me write this book, but the more books I write, the more toys I can buy you.
Also, this book is dedicated to my late grandfather, Charles Vent, who I still think of all the time. I think he would have gotten a kick out of this book when he wasn’t busy making dogs smoke cigarettes, narrowly escaping the police, or stealing things off people’s front lawns.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sara Shepard is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the series Pretty Little Liars, which was developed by ABC Family (now Freeform) into a television series of the same name. She is also the author of the adult novels The Visibles and The Heiresses and lives in Pittsburgh, PA, with her family.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 by Sara Shepard
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First Atria Books hardcover edition April 2018
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Interior design by Kyoko Watanabe
Jacket design by Donna Cheng
Jacket photograph by ©Plainpicture/Readymade-Images/Baptiste Mourrieras (Woman); ©Blend Images/Alamy Stock Photo (Water)
Author photograph by Danielle Shields
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Shepard, Sara, author. Title: The Elizas : a novel / Sara Shepard. Description: First Atria Books hardcover edition. | New York : Atria Books, 2018. Identifiers: LCCN 2017026988 (print) | LCCN 2017029053 Classification: LCC PS3619.H4543 (ebook) | LCC PS3619.H4543 E45 2018 (print) | DDC 813/.6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017026988
ISBN 978-1-5011-6277-0
ISBN 978-1-5011-6279-4 (ebook)