Sweet sixteen is a special time for Hannah Sanders. At
Hillcrest Academy in a posh San Francisco suburb, good
things are happening for Hannah. A very popular and sought
after young man, Noah, has set his sights on her. He is part of
the "in group" which Hannah is longing to join.
Ronni and Lauren, the prettiest, if a little mean, are
part of his group and lately are "hanging" with Hannah.
When her parents, Kim and Jeff Sanders, decide to host a
Sweet Sixteen Party with a sleepover, pizza, and her
favorite birthday cake, Hannah is thrilled. She invites
her old childhood friends, Marta and Caitlin, along with her
two new friends, Ronni and Lauren. Hannah decides she will
make it memorable for her two cooler and more sophisticated
friends by hiding vodka down in the play room. This will
help secure her popularity with them as that is the most
important thing for Hannah now.
On the party night, Kim greets the guests, immediately
establishing the rules: No alcohol. No drugs. No boys.
Assured that her perfect
daughter, who has been trained to get good grades,
play the piano, and have nice friends (aren't they the
important things?) will obey. Kim takes half an Ambien,
finishes her second glass of wine and retires for the night.
Jeff, who wants to be the cool dad, takes a bottle of pink
champagne to the girls, telling Hannah, "Enjoy, but don't
tell your mother."
Awakened by Hannah at 2 a.m. she is crying and hysterical,
her hands bloody. She tells her parents, there has been an
accident. They find Ronni, hurt, bleeding, and smelling of
alcohol. She is surrounded by broken glass and her face and
eyes are injured. A rush to the hospital, surgery, and the
beginning of a nightmare, starting with reporting the
accident to the police.
Robyn Harding presents a riveting read about every parents
worse nightmare. A sweet sixteen party that ends in a
tragedy. In the aftermath, nothing will ever be the
same. Secrets and lies are revealed. Relationships are
tested and
broken. A "perfect family" unable to come together in a
time of crisis, is ruined forever. Hannah experiences
bullying, high school
politics, and mean teens spiraling out of control. The
question then needs to be asked and answered. Is it okay to
break the rules because being popular is more important?
THE PARTY is a frightening story that makes me happy my
children are no longer teens. It is a riveting tale, told
well, and I found it hard to put down. It is a story you
think about long after the last page. What a lovely cover.
Robyn Harding is a new author I plan to follow. Thank you.
In this stunning and provocative domestic drama about a
sweet sixteen birthday party that goes horribly awry, a
wealthy family in San Francisco finds their picture-
perfect life unraveling, their darkest secrets revealed,
and their friends turned to enemies.
One invitation. A lifetime of regrets.
Sweet sixteen. It’s an exciting coming of age, a
milestone, and a rite of passage. Jeff and Kim Sanders
plan on throwing a party for their daughter, Hannah—a
sweet girl with good grades and nice friends. Rather than
an extravagant, indulgent affair, they invite four girls
over for pizza, cake, movies, and a sleepover. What could
possibly go wrong?
But things do go wrong, horrifically so. After a tragic
accident occurs, Jeff and Kim’s flawless life in a
wealthy San Francisco suburb suddenly begins to come
apart. In the ugly aftermath, friends become enemies,
dark secrets are revealed in the Sanders’ marriage, and
the truth about their perfect daughter, Hannah, is
exposed.
Harkening to Herman Koch’s The Dinner, Christos
Tsiolkas’s The Slap, and Liane Moriarty’s Big Little
Lies, The Party takes us behind the façade of the
picture-perfect family, exposing the lies, betrayals, and
moral lapses that neighbors don’t see—and the secrets
that children and parents keep from themselves and each
other.
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