All These Beautiful Strangers

When I finished ALL THESE BEAUTIFUL STRANGERS, I was completely satisfied as a reader, just as I feel with all the best books I read! It was a mix of memories of my own adolescence and the way that things aren't always exactly as they seem that was the appeal for me in this well-written, clever mix of family drama and mystery. Fully fleshed characters, chapters that ended in a way that made me want to keep reading, short flash-backs that heightened my curiosity about what actually happened in the past - all these things combined made it a great read. If you enjoy campus and boarding school mysteries, you should like this one.

Weaving back and forth in time, All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth is an engaging young adult mystery.

In 2007, seven year old Charlotte "Charlie" Calloway's mother Grace Fairchild vanished without a trace. From a working class background, Grace's marriage to wealthy Alistair Calloway was rather volatile at the time of her disappearance. The subsequent investigation into the case yields an unexpected clue that points to Grace leaving of her own volition. However, troubling evidence at the family's lakeside home casts a few doubts on this supposition. With no new leads, Grace's disappearance remains a mystery and life for Alistair, Charlie and younger sister, Seraphina slowly returned to normal.

In 2017, Charlie is in her show more junior year at the prestigious Knollwood Prep School where she is elated to be chosen as an initiate for the elite, secret society, the "A's". She, her cousin, Leo and best friend Drew are very excited about becoming a full-fledged member of the club. In order to secure their positions, each of them must complete the three tasks that have been assigned to them. As Charlie begins her quest to become an "A", her Uncle Hank unexpectedly shows up Knollwood to let her know he has found a very troubling set of pictures that might be linked to her mother's disappearance. Reluctantly drawn into uncovering the truth about what happened to Grace, Charlie stumbles onto shocking information that could destroy her family.

Charlie is self-absorbed, spoiled and entitled. She gives little thought to anyone but herself and quite frankly, it is unsurprising she has few friends. Charlie has trust issues so she comes across as somewhat standoffish and due to her family's wealth and position in society, she is a bit arrogant. Determined to become a full-fledged member of the "A's", Charlie eagerly fulfills the first two tasks assigned to her.

As she tries to solve the mystery of Grace's disappearance, Charlie becomes reacquainted with her mother's best friend, Claire, and Claire's son, Greyson. A lot of the details that Charlie discovers occur by happenstance since the information literally falls in her lap. She does track down every lead she finds and through a series of startling coincidences, Charlie finds a stunning connection that eventually reveals the truth about what happened to her mother.

All These Beautiful Strangers is an engrossing mystery although the cast of unlikable characters and unpalatable dating game are a bit off-putting. The flashbacks about Grace are more interesting than the story arc in the present. While there are some unexpected plot twists, savvy readers will most likely have little trouble figuring out the truth about Grace's disappearance. In the end, the only real uncertainty swirls around Charlie and her unexpected chance at redemption. All in all, this enjoyable debut by Elizabeth Klehfoth will appeal to both older teens and adult readers. show less

This novel is a unique combination of a murder/disappearance mystery, together with a deeper look at an ages-old suicide mystery, with a great delving into questions of class, privilege, the drama high school brings to teenagehood. It's a great read, presents some young characters whose escapades and lives in a top-tier high school gets put under the microscope. Very well done.

Charlie Calloway, a 17 year old at a fancy boarding school on the east coast, digs into her family past. Charlie's mother, the beautiful Grace Fairchild who came from the wrong side of the tracks, disappeared ten years ago and her body was never found. The story is told through flashing back between Grace's life and Charlie's present day life at Knollwood, the school her wealthy father Alistair also attended. Charlie becomes part detective as she pieces together old photos and listens to detective transcripts to uncover a murder that happened at Knollwood back in her father's day and the murder of her mother.

Another suspenseful novel with a possibly unreliable, unlikeable narrator filled with twists and turns, I can see why this was compared to Gone Girl. While Gone Girl was a masterpiece, this is still a very likeable debut novel. Charlie's mother Grace disappeared 10 years ago. Now she is in the process of joining a secret society at her private school for the very rich (and a few scholarship students) when the past starts draw Charlie back in.

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A beautiful story about families, love, betrayal, the difference between the rich and poor, and a girl that tries to discover what happened to her missing mother, while discovering herself.

Charlie Calloway has a life most people would kill for – a tight-knit family, a loyal set of friends, and top grades a privileged boarding school. But Charlie’s never been interested in what most people want. Like all Calloways, she’s been taught that she’s different, special – better. So when her school’s super-exclusive secret society extends a mysterious invitation, Charlie’s determination to get in is matched only by her conviction that she belongs there.

But their secrets go deeper show more than she knows.

Charlie finds herself thrust into the centre of a decades-old mystery – one that implicates her family in not one terrible crime, but two. Uncovering their past may destroy everything she knows – or give her the answer she’s always craved: Who or what was behind her mother’s disappearance ten years ago?

I haven’t heard about this book until I received it as a birthday gift from my sister. The cover is just – gorgeous! You can feel the raindrops on the cover, and the sides are painted black, and you can read out ”I KNOW”. They have been thinking of all the little details.


The story is a bit slow at the beginning. It took me a while to get into it, as they delay the plot for a while, but once you get past that little hill of boredom, it gets better and better. I could imagine myself climbing a mountain with my bike, struggling while climbing, just so I can enjoy the great fast downhill and wind in my face.

The story is told by many people’s perspective, and it changes after each chapter. The amazing thing was, the stories go back in the past as well, but the story keeps flowing in one direction, event by event, which I really enjoyed. If this was poorly made, the book would’ve been so confusing, but fortunately, it wasn’t.

Even though I didn’t expect, this turned out to be a great mystery-solving novel, with wonderful and unexpected plot-twists, and a cliffhanger until the end. Is the mother dead or alive?
Many of the topics covered are very relatable. The difference between children raised in rich families versus the children raised in not-s-rich families. Their thoughts and mindsets, their beliefs, and the people they hang out with. And when a girl like Charlie, who has a father from a rich family and a mother from a poor family, is on the cross-road, it is amazing to see this character develop and make choices for herself, that reflect on both her backgrounds.

A lovely read, fast-paced novel, with a beautiful cover and even more beautiful reading material, this is one of the stories that I would recommend for you to read on a rainy day, covered in a blanket, with a hot chocolate – despite the summer theme on the cover, this was a winter book for me.

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Det slutna sällskapet kallas också A-gruppen, och är ett hemligt sällskap som styr den anrika internatskolan Knollwood bakom kulisserna. Charlie Calloway blir inbjuden att genomgå inträdesproven till sällskapet, samtidigt som hon börjar nysta i sin familjs mörka hemligheter. Och det visar sig snart att hennes egen pappa varit medlem i sällskapet.
En bladvändare som passar bra för varma dagar, när hjärnan är lite trött. Trådarna knyts samman lite hastigt i slutet, och Charlie är bitvis lite väl YA-klyschig, men delarna som handlar om hennes familjs förflutna är intressanta nog att väga upp för det.