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A Novel
by Rachel Kapelke-Dale
Yellowjackets meets The Cloisters in this beguiling coming-of-age story about class, reinvention, and destiny, set against the backdrop of two mysterious deaths.
Middle-class Rosie Macalister has worked for years to fit in with her wealthy friends on the Yale equestrian team. But when she comes back from her junior year abroad with newfound confidence, she finds that the group has been infiltrated by a mysterious intruder: Annelise Tattinger.
A talented tarot reader and a brilliant rider, the enigmatic Annelise is unlike anyone Rosie has ever met. But when one of their friends notices money disappearing from her bank account, Annelise's place in the circle is thrown into question. As the girls turn against each other, the group's unspoken tensions and assumptions lead to devastating consequences.
It's only after graduation, when Rosie begins a job at a Manhattan hedge fund, that she uncovers Annelise's true identity––and how her place in their elite Yale set was no accident. Is it too late for Rosie to put right what went wrong, or does everyone's luck run out at some point? Set in the heady days of the early aughts, The Fortune Seller is a haunting examination of class, ambition, and the desires that shape our lives.
"Kapelke-Dale skillfully blends class concerns, character development, and a menacing atmosphere, emerging with an intoxicating mystery that defies easy categorization. Readers will be tempted to devour it in a single sitting." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Brimming with competitions, rivalries amid friendships, and secrets within lies...Fans of Kapelke-Dale's signature twisty suspense will be riveted." ―Booklist
"Sophisticated with just the right dose of sinister, this coming-of-age story doesn't shy from the grisly power dynamics of privilege." —Library Journal
"Propulsive and engrossing, The Fortune Seller deftly examines the ways in which our lives are shaped by luck and by fate, illustrating the sometimes grizzly consequences of tempting either. Rachel Kapelke-Dale has (once again) captured the complexities of female friendship, ambition, and privilege with razor-sharp insight and sparkling prose, all set in the evocative worlds of equestrian competitions, dark academia, and the New York elite. Tarot cards offer hints at what's to come in each chapter, but this story kept me on my toes throughout; I absolutely devoured it." ―Genevieve Wheeler, author of Adelaide
"Kapelke-Dale is fluent in the double-edged language of female friendship. I ripped through The Fortune Seller, her captivating, fast-paced novel about upper-crust, ride-or-die housemates at Yale whose petty cruelties take a sinister turn. A refreshing look at girl power and identity, longing and belonging, and fate and free will, The Fortune Seller reveals the dark impulses that fuel our most intense, intoxicating relationships." ―Jillian Medoff, author of When We Were Bright and Beautiful
"Delicious and addicting, The Fortune Seller is the book of my occult horse-girl dreams. Ambition, excess, equestrians-all filtered through the tarot and the question of fate versus luck. Kapelke-Dale has constructed a glittering tale of sacrifice and privilege. I guarantee you will not be able to put it down." ―Julia Fine, author of Maddalena and the Dark
"The Fortune Seller is pure magic. A juicy campus novel suffused with complex friendship dynamics and an insider-outsider story of one woman's struggle to fit in with her high-flying peers, Kapelke-Dale weaves suspense with sharp prose for a read that's both fast-paced and thought-provoking. The novel's tarot cards may illuminate the future, but this much is clear: I'd follow Kapelke-Dale anywhere." ―Avery Carpenter Forrey, author of Social Engagement
This information about The Fortune Seller was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Rachel Kapelke-Dale is the author of The Ingenue and The Ballerinas, and co-author of Graduates in Wonderland. Kapelke-Dale received a B.A. from Brown University, where she rode on the varsity equestrian team, an M.A. from the Université de Paris-Diderot, and a Ph.D. from University College London. She currently lives in Paris.
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