A feminist YA horror-thriller retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray by the bestselling author of The Society for Soulless Girls
A searing exploration of beauty, identity, and what the pursuit of perfection costs young women.
Penny Paxton is the daughter of an icon. Her supermodel mother has legions of adoring fans around the world, and Penny is ready to follow in her footsteps at the elite Dorian Drama School. Because nobody can 'mask' like Penny can; a coping mechanism turned almost-superpower. She can mirror other people and shift personas like a snake swapping skins, and she's determined to use her unusual gift to achieve her dream of West End stardom.
Throwing herself into all the glittering secrets Dorian has to offer, Penny enters into the private tutelage of the eccentric Professor Adamina Camran, who shares with her the story of a local artist who can immortalise their subjects in paint. Camran's own portrait is ageing and decaying on her behalf, leaving real-life Camran physically perfect no matter how many decades roll by. Exhausted by the constant maintenance her own good looks require, Penny begs Camran to take her to the elusive artist.
Many of the gallery's alumni have gone on to great things: actors and directors, models and muses . . . including Penny's mother. After an eerily silent painting session with the cloaked and hooded artist, Penny leaves with a sense of unease crawling up her spine.
Why does she have the sudden sensation of being tethered to the Gallery? And why is Camran behaving so strangely?