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Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. CHAPTER ONE
  5. CHAPTER TWO
  6. CHAPTER THREE
  7. CHAPTER FOUR
  8. CHAPTER FIVE
  9. CHAPTER SIX
  10. CHAPTER SEVEN
  11. CHAPTER EIGHT
  12. CHAPTER NINE
  13. CHAPTER TEN
  14. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  15. CHAPTER TWELVE
  16. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  21. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  22. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  43. CHAPTER FORTY
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  53. CHAPTER FIFTY
  54. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  55. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  56. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  57. What’s next onyour reading list?

Lulu’s hand finds Cass’s. The weight of her, the strength, the bony squeeze of her fingers and the soft skin of her palm. Lulu knows Cass’s body by touch, with the answering weight and strength of her own.

Lulu knows that Cass is going to kiss her in a minute. And she finds that she isn’t afraid to close her eyes and sit in darkness before that happens. She isn’t afraid to let her.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

THANK YOU TO Sarah Burnes for loving this little feminist book from the first draft, and Jessica Dandino Garrison, Ellen Cormier, Nancy Mercado, Lauri Hornik, Regina Castillo, and everyone else at Dial for getting it from that draft to this one.

Then Theresa Evangelista designed the (stunning!!!) cover, Cerise Steel did the gorgeous interior, and Lindsay Boggs, Elyse Marshall, Shanta Newlin, Elise Gibbs, and everyone at Penguin helped make sure people would eventually read it.

I am deeply grateful to all of you for your work in transforming this thing from a word document into an actual book.

This is the second novel I’ve written almost entirely at Dinosaur Coffee; thanks for the ginger tonics and all the company, dudes.

Thank you to the women of Strong Sports Gym, and even some of the men. #YALi(f)t, bro?

Mushanto: As always, mushanto.

Mom, Dad, Tiny: I love you.

My tireless, tireless friends, my extended & chosen family: I love you too.

Thank you to the people who gave me some perspective on the perspectives in this book that aren’t mine: Gina Delvac, Catie Disabato, Sharifa Love, Maura Milan, and Amy Spalding. For early reads, thank you to Amada Chicago Lewis, Miranda Popkey, and Darcy Vebber. Writing is best done in and with community, and I’m infinitely lucky to have you all as part of mine.

Karina Longworth’s book Seduction: Sex, Lies and Stardom in Howard Hughes’ Hollywood came along at exactly the moment I needed some historical perspective on how silent-era Hollywood had operated. Beauty, Power, Danger doesn’t exist, but You Must Remember This does, and it’s excellent.

This book was also inspired and informed by other women’s tellings of the Bluebeard story, in particular Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, Helen Oyeyemi’s Mr. Fox, and Francesca Lia Block’s story “Bones,” which you can read in her collection Roses and Bones. They helped me think through why I wanted such an old fairy tale wound through a book about Snapchat.

And last but never least: Thank you for reading it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR