Doll Parts

DEBUT Rumor has it that every year one freshman at Loch Raven College kills herself, thus becoming the latest member to join a “club” named after Sylvia Plath. At first best friends and new freshman Sadie Stone and Nikki Vale are skeptical of the campus legend, but Nikki gradually discovers that the number of suicides attributed to the Sylvia Club simply can’t be explained away. Almost 20 years later, Nikki is now dead, and Sadie is living with Nikki’s former husband, who is the father of Sadie’s new baby. While trying to tidy up around the house, Sadie uncovers a to-do list left to her by Nikki, who wants her best friend to follow up on the investigation into the Sylvia Club she began decades ago. Zang’s compelling debut delves insightfully into topics such as friendship, grief, and Plath’s place in literature as well as exploring the dangers of romanticizing suicide.