Introduction

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER AND DECEMBER PICK FOR REESE WITHERSPOON'S HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB

"Filled with envy, deception, and power, it’s a great reading escape. And there is a thrilling twist at the end!!" —Reese Witherspoon

“Will keep you up. In a ‘can’t put it down’ way. It’s ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ with XX chromosomes.”—The Skimm

“Deliciously duplicitous. . . . equally as twisty, spellbinding, and addictive as Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl or Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train.”—Library Journal (starred review)

Amber Patterson is fed up. She’s tired of being a nobody: a plain, invisible woman who blends into the background. She deserves more—a life of money and power like the one blond-haired, blue-eyed goddess Daphne Parrish takes for granted.

To everyone in the exclusive town of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut, Daphne—a socialite and philanthropist—and her real-estate mogul husband, Jackson, are a couple straight out of a fairy tale.

Amber’s envy could eat her alive . . . if she didn't have a plan. Amber uses Daphne’s compassion and caring to insinuate herself into the family’s life—the first step in a meticulous scheme to undermine her. Before long, Amber is Daphne’s closest confidante, traveling to Europe with the Parrishes and their lovely young daughters, and growing closer to Jackson. But a skeleton from her past may undermine everything that Amber has worked towards, and if it is discovered, her well-laid plan may fall to pieces. 

With shocking turns and dark secrets that will keep you guessing until the very end, The Last Mrs. Parrish is a fresh, juicy, and utterly addictive thriller from a diabolically imaginative talent.

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Discussion Questions

1. A major theme in the book is the idea that things are rarely what they seem on the outside. Have you ever experienced this in your life where you’ve misjudged a person based on appearances?

2. What makes it so fun to read about an antiheroine or antihero? Did you find yourself rooting for Amber as she planned to take down Daphne?

3. Liv Constantine has set this novel in a very wealthy town, one in which the characters seem to Amber to have everything. In what ways is Amber right about this, and what are some of the residents of Bishops Harbor lacking? With a widening gap between the haves and have-nots, is it fair to feel a sense of anger at the top 1%?

4. Amber gets a cold reception from the other women on Daphne’s charity board. Do you think their suspicions of her are based on superficial factors like her lack of wealth, or do they sense something about her that doesn’t add up?

5. One of the interesting things about this book is the way in which seemingly minor characters can end up playing a larger role. Do you think that Daphne saw Amber as a minor character in her own life at first?

6. Amber gets frustrated with Daphne’s continued grief over the loss of her sister. Do we ever get over the loss of a loved one at such a young age? In what ways does grief impact our lives? How different would Daphne’s life had turned out if she hadn’t lost her sister?

7. How would you describe the relationship between Daphne and her mother? Would you as a mother have probed more deeply if your daughter began to distance herself from you?

8. In recent years, novels with unreliable narrators have become very popular. In The Last Mrs. Parrish, the big twist comes from a shift in point of view, rather than the revelation that a narrator was unreliable all along. What’s the difference between the two techniques and which do you prefer?

9. Do you think sociopaths are born or made?

10. How far would you go to protect your loved ones? Do you think Daphne’s actions made sense? What, if anything, would you have done differently?

11. What did you think of the novel’s ending? What do you think is next for these characters?

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