Go beyond the film with a novelization featuring new scenes and expanded material.


As the shadows of the Empire loom ever larger across the galaxy, so do deeply troubling rumors. The Rebellion has learned of a sinister Imperial plot to bring entire worlds to their knees. Deep in Empire-dominated space, a machine of unimaginable destructive power is nearing completion. A weapon too terrifying to contemplate . . . and a threat that may be too great to overcome.

A well written and solid novel

A damn fine novel…truly worthy of the name Star Wars…Rogue One is one such book

Clear-eyed, very sad, funny at times and, despite the story it tells, ultimately uplifting in its determination to confront buried truths.

A masterpiece

A devastating forage into memory and the brutality of the stiff upper lip

What a wonderful book about tragedy, the tricks that memory plays on us all, and the bottomless capacity for denial that lies at the heart of a public school upbringing. I was quite undone by it - and also surprised, at times, by eruptions of laughter. For it proves, if proof is needed, that there's nothing stranger than a conventional English family

A compelling autobiography showing the need to erase an early tragedy and the necessity, many years later, to discover what exactly happened. This is an unforgettable family story that explores human nature and involves us all

I read nothing this year that I admired quite as much

This is an absorbing, unsettling and at times painfully difficult read but by the end of the book it is clear that Richard found it cathartic to dig up the past. His story is an important examination of grief and denial and the huge damage caused by the idea that feelings and emotions are something best packed away and ignored

Jorge Semprun could not speak of what he had witnessed when he was released in April 1945 after 18 months in the death camp at Buchenwald… Richard Beard is scissored from Semprun’s cloth… As he proves time and time again in The Day That Went Missing, a wonderful memoir in which he writes himself back to life, the language does exist to make sense of grief. His book deserves to stand on the same shelf as William Fienne’s The Music Room, as a remarkable homage to a lost brother

A moving, harrowing tale that is artfully told

This brave, necessary memoir finds Beard struggling to bring the facts back to the surface… Some people still think it best to “move on” from trauma quickly, with minimal discussion. Beard’s book shows the price we pay for that illusion of movement is, emotionally, never to move on at all

One of the most impressive things about this most impressive book is Beard’s anxiety is that without the tragedy he would never have become a writer… Beard’s is a book about forgetting, about a very particular amnesia of sorrow. Beard is one of our most accomplished authors, and this is perhaps his most readerly book, in that it is all about decoding and deciphering, interpreting and imagining. But it is also just stricken. When he, eventually after nigh on 40 years, first cries on the beach, I dare the reader not to do so as well

This memoir breaks all the rules. It’s brimful of anger and guilt, fails to deliver an uplifting ending and opens with a death… Beard has written an enriching rather than uplifting book

Beard’s book is a belated attempt to confront the truths he had previously repressed, and it makes for both painful and riveting reading… The talent he foregrounds here is ultimately that of keeping emotion at bay – the devastating product of a scalpel-sharp intellect and an English boarding school education

The Day That Went Missing is a book about a family tragedy that has the momentum of his brother’s life. It also has something of the mystery and intrigue of a metaphysical quest, since it is an attempt to capture the essence of someone long dead… Written in pellucid prose and artfully constructed, The Day That Went Missing is never sentimental or self-pitying and is all the more moving as a consequence… An act of love which honours and memorialises the brother he lost so traumatically

A family story of exceptional power and universal relevance

It is more than just a study on grief, exploring memory and the savagery of the stiff upper lip. No book has moved me more this year

It is written in a searingly honest way and is quite unlike any other book I’ve ever read.

Extraordinary.

In this haunting and courageous memoir, Beard at last confronts the events of the day his brother died.

A compelling story, finely written and forensic in its search for truth... This account of one family's tragedy is a haunting story that lingers long in the memory

A novel that grapples with mankind’s most indelible anxieties, from the nature of damnation to the smaller but no less urgent details of tea-making, Judas is an intelligent and hypnotic novel.

Precisely, gorgeously written… What sets the book apart is its exquisitely forensic portrait of what it is to be a young woman.

With the maturity of a writer twice her age, Cline has written a wise novel that’s never showy: a quiet, seething confession of yearning and terror... Debut novels like this are rare, indeed

‘****… Luxuriant prose… Her storytelling ability began to weave its magic as the narrative builds to a dramatic and horrific climax.

One of my personal books of the year. Brilliantly evoking the period of the late sixties…her writing gets right into the mind of a teenage girl… I knew this was a writer I wanted to know more about.

She is exceptionally good at capturing the fearful, conflicted sensibility of a 14-year-old girl… The sheer poetic lyricism of her prose is remarkable.

If you are an awkward, cynical person, this kind of hype might put you off, might make you look for flaws. Good luck. The Girls is fabulous... It is almost certainly the book of the summer: it is saturated with colours and the mingled smells of jasmine and decay. It's extremely readable but it has a fringed heart of darkness

She delivers magnificent prose, sentence after sentence after sentence … she is a fantastic writer, her intelligence is extraordinary, with a penetration, an understanding of her subject

The most hyped debut novel of the year – and it fully lived up to its promise.

Debut by an author so unmistakably in possession of great analytical intelligence and a gift for spinning theory’s straw into story’s gold.

The Girls stands comparison with Jeffrey Eugenides’s The Virgin Suicides… There is a self-aware coolness about Cline.

An intense evocation of adolescence…absorbing debut.

A tense and claustrophobic read that perfectly and painfully conjures the fragile expectancy of teenage girls.

A hazy, lazy, highly fictionalized but precisely, gorgeously written reworking of the Charles Manson story… The book of the summer.

Cline is extraordinarily good… A beautifully written, consuming story which perfectly captures the mindset of an adolescent girl.

It triumphantly lives up to the hype

Keenly anticipated.

Cline deftly depicts the pressures that shape life as a young woman… She captures the bonds between women that both sustain and resist the violence of patriarchy… The atmosphere of languorous sun-drenched danger will stay with you for days.

Cline hypnotically unpicks the psyche of a teenage girl… Cool, dreamy and dark debut.

This is a stand-out debut from a hugely accomplished 26-year-old author. It’s beautifully written, completely gripping and perfectly catches a girl on the cusp of adulthood.

Beautiful, heady language and under-the-skin storytelling.

A good shot at becoming the must-read novel of the summer.

Illuminates the darker side of infatuation under the glare of the Californian sun.

Vivid, exacting portrait of a vulnerable young girl coming of age.

Gripping read.

The strength of The Girls lies in Cline’s ability to evoke both the textures and atmosphere of those painful in-between times… [Cline] is a powerful interpreter of ambiguous emotional vectors, and the catastrophic directions in which they can lead.

Cline’s real achievement is not so much the dread-filled journey to the book’s harrowing climax, however, but her vividly drawn central character and how she stumbles from invisible, impressionable bystander to unwitting accomplice… Cline is excellent at capturing the complex negotiations and compromises of girlhood… The Girls is a horror story for our times, a gripping and richly poetic account… Its ambition and reach are immense.

Vividly reimagines 1960s California… Cline’s portrait of teenage girl-dom is note perfect.

Dubbed fiction’s most exciting new voice… This page-turner is a powerful insight into the culture of gang mentality… The read of the summer.

Notable for its finely wrought prose, its piercing insight into the teen mind and the gorgeous way it relates terrible things. Read it before the movie is cast…and enjoy Evie for the wonderfully written creation she is’

Gets off to a quietly thrilling start… Her sentences are often strong and lovely, indicative of voice rather than merely of style.

Mesmerising novel… Impressive book’

First the heady language and sensuous descriptions will hook you, then the extraordinary story of free love, intoxication and violence… Remarkable debut… The Girls brims with intrigue… It’s the intimacy and intricacy of Cline’s prose and her sharp sense of humanity that makes the book shimmer with life… The Girls is a spectacular story.

Sun-scorched coming of age chiller… Brutally convincing.

If you’re only going to pack one book next to your swimming trunks this year, this is the one to go for… [Emma Cline] Has hit a home run with her first swing.

It’s disturbing…but you keep reading.

Wonderfully readable, and acutely observed, this is that rare thing: a beach novel of real substance.

The big holiday read of summer. Find a sunlounger and get started.

Subtly provoking novel… The strength of The Girls lies in Cline’s ability to evoke both the textures and atmosphere of those painful in-between times; the desperate rush to fill an emotional vacuum… Cline has a talent for capturing that uncanniness, the fault lines in our sense of our stability… she is a powerful interpreter of ambiguous emotional vectors, and the catastrophic directions in which they can lead.

Thrilling… Gritty, shocking and ever so readable; more than living up to the hype that greeted its initial sale.

Wonderfully readable, finely written and acutely observed.

One of the pleasures…is its immediacy… The book is a trancelike accumulation of intense adolescent feelings and myopic impressions… The setting is rendered both vividly and delicately… [A] Slender, absorbing book.

If you're only going to pack one book this year, make it this one.

This chilling story of fractured innocence is beautifully written in wonderfully descriptive, sometimes dream-like prose. A stunningly powerful, spellbinding cautionary tale.

Both in person and on the page Cline is wise beyond her years. I read the book with a biro underlining phrases that I wish I could write. I am no longer jealous, I am just in awe.

'I really enjoyed it... A compelling coming-of-age story... Cline focuses not on the murders themselves, but on the landscape of adolescence, accurately portraying the boredom and lassitude, the yearning and insecurities of that awkward transitional stage... Stunningly written, in fresh, youthful prose, expect to see The Girls on deckchairs, beach towels and best-seller lists over the coming months

Unnervingly perceptive … Part murderous thriller, part meditation on the vulnerability of teenage girls, it’s an exquisite, insightful and chilling read.

Unexpected and brilliant debut novel.

An intense evocation of adolescence…absorbing debut novel.

As gripping as a thriller, it’s a powerful exploration of hero worship of all kinds, and the shapes into which girls force themselves as they attempt to grow up.

This year's Miniaturist

A fantastic writer, her intelligence is extraordinary

Gripping novel… Cline’s debut is a real page-turner.

It is the language which elevates the novel to brilliance… Cline takes ordinary words and fits them together in patterns that shouldn’t work but…bring[s] a vibrancy to her prose that captivates.

Not the cheeriest summer read of the year, but it is one of the most powerful… Cline masterfully uses the sultriness of the season to explore the complex negotiations of girlhood.

Highly charged literary debut… Visceral, seductive and delicately seething, Cline articulates the labyrinth anxieties of adolescence and the importance of belonging with a personal, finely tuned prose and a restrained, drip-feed pace that belies her age.

A dark, erotically charged story of seduction, coercion and abuse emerges that has deliberate echoes of the Manson Family massacres in 1969… Cline brilliantly conveys the predatory cultural and sexual forces to which teenage girls are so often vulnerable. And her prose is completely to die for.

The Girls stands apart from other treatments of Manson.

Gripping, and highly impressive.

Sumptuous prose… Believe the hype: she’s one to watch.

The narrative is layered and complex, as even the young Evie seems to be an astute observer of human nature, who does not gloss over the less glamorous details, even in those she loves and admires. Throughout the novel, the fragility of the relationships are laid bare… [An] Immersive experience, both for the reader, and a narrator looking to reclaim some of her most vivid memories.

A gripping read.

Cline brilliantly captures the precise, sultry prose the vulnerable and highly-charged sensibility of adolescence in a hotly-tipped debut inspired by the Manson Family massacre that – for once – justifies the hype.

Eloquent, coming-of-age debut… I was quite sure it could never live up to the hype. How wrong I was… Well-crafted prose… This is a perceptive, insightful and beautifully written book on the often harsh realities of the formative teenage years and a telling truth of what some will do to belong and feel loved. It is a must-read.

It unsettles and disturbs in unpredictable ways. Above all, Cline is excellent on the female coffee table book adolescent psyche and the ways in which girlhood is so often an act performed for the opposite sex… The end result is gripping, and highly impressive.

An intense evocation of adolescence…set to be the breakout book of summer. Every page throbs with the threat of violence.

The writing is lush and surprising.

[It is] shockingly assured for a first novel.

Already I’m hooked… The writing style…is totally engaging – shrewd and observant but with a certain softness. I’ll report back when I’ve finished, but I think this will be a great summer read.

The Girls is compulsively readable… A strikingly accomplished debut. Evie’s voice shimmers with vivid metaphorical language… There are some truly breathtaking passages — lush and lapidary and full of startling imagery… A fierce challenge to our received notion of the 1960s as an era of peace signs, protest marches and free love, and [this] adds a note of profundity to this highly impressive first novel.

Emma Cline's The Girls is so brilliant.

A compelling novel… [A] nuanced and deeply drawn character study of teenage ennui and anger… In luminous prose, the novel maps Evie’s obsessive psyche… A compelling and startling new work of fiction. Ms. Cline brilliantly shows how far adolescent loneliness can push a girl in her desire to be loved.

[A] steamy hit.

[It] is so brilliant… The only thing more perfect about this book than Cline’s woozily dreamy prose is her timing.

The Summer read for you... Cline’s gorgeous novel is both stunning and shocking. We dare you not to devour in one sitting

[A] literary page-turner.

A startlingly intense, brilliant and brooding debut novel….written with luminous foreboding lyricism.

[It is] intelligent and thoughtful.

Cline’s portrayal of the fragile teen years and the power they have in shaping the woman you become will resonate with everyone.

Cline’s language…is splendid at conjuring pictures.

Cline - from California, where the novel is set, has crafted a distinct poetic timbre that devises similes galore to augment the imagery and the protagonist’s insight… Inspired, I look forward to reading more from this highly talented author. I will indeed re-Cline.

Cline’s structure…allows her to apply her acute observations about girlhood to today’s world.

The summer’s standout debut… A tense, febrile imagining… The Girls is a subtle, restrained and beautifully textured telling of one of pop culture history’s most luridly hideous moments, with a heightened, dreamlike quality that tips irrevocably into nightmare.

I read this in a single sitting a few months back, and it remains my favourite read of 2016. The writing is so beautiful; the sentences perfectly formed, cumulated in a plot that slowly draws you in… Eloquent, perceptive and insightful, you won’t be able to put this one down.

This book was sublime. I read it as the last of the sunshine faded into autumn and I felt transported into 1969 California.

[A] clever debut novel… Gripping.

Undeniably the dazzling fiction debut of the year, this brilliant American novel is a vivid evocation of California in 1969… It is the author’s luminous prose style that excels. Exhilarating.

A spellbinding, supremely evocative coming-of-age story

[A] compulsively readable debut [which] is a vivid examination of adolescence.

A fluent, engrossing debut novel.

The Californian setting is intoxicating, as laced with sunlight as filth, and its insight into the teenage girl’s mind is extraordinary.

A book of glistening prose.

Believe the hype; it is simply brilliant.

A shimmering tale of adolescence and sexual awakening written in prose that aptly feels almost hallucinatory

A haunting and gripping read.

Highly recommended if you’re in need of a good read.

Both shocking and subtle, its real power lies in the exploration of girlhood itself.

Brilliantly done… The year is 1969. Evie notices a group of scavenging girls – they belong to a nearby cult. And this cult is horrific. Think of the Manson family… A seriously excellent debut novel.

As Lena Dunham says, it'll both break your heart and blow your mind.

Through the story of the Manson family and their brutal crimes, Cline explores the intensity and loneliness of female adolescence with an impressive mastery of language.

A superb, chilling novel of doom-laden adolescence.

A thrilling, savage exploration of how a teenager gets sucked into a cult led by a Charles Manson figure.

The writing is so beautiful; the sentences perfectly formed, cumulated in a plot that slowly draws you in… Eloquent, perceptive and insightful, you won’t be able to put this one down.

Few books have such a dramatic effect on me but Emma Cline’s stirring debut The Girls is one I’ve never managed to get out of my head… This is a perceptive, insightful and beautifully written book on the often harsh realities of the formative teenage years and a telling truth of what some will do to belong and feel loved. It is a must-read and one that is more than worth sitting down with a second or third time.

The novel has a number of things going for it, from Cline's gorgeous prose to her knack for plot and timing, to her way of presenting Evie's electric, often jolting moments of self-recognition. But the aspect of The Girls that captivated me the most was how Cline channels that particular period in a girl's life when she is consumed with the need to be seen, to be known—by her mother, by slightly older girls, and most often, by men.

Thanks to Cline’s lyrical prose, which is at once as clear as the Californian skies of the novel’s setting and as evocative as a sunshine drenched Polaroid picture, The Girls perfectly captures the twilight years of the hippie era, where the rot of its seedy drug-fuelled underbelly shattered the dream of peace and love and culminated in a gruesome massacre that shocked the world.

The Girls exemplifies the uncomfortably thin line between healthy and unhealthy relationships