WINNER OF THE ITW THRILLER AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL
âMy Sweet Girl pushes the boundaries of what a thriller can do.ââThe Washington Post
âFiendish [and] full of twistsâĻ. Sri Lankan author Amanda Jayatissa keeps us guessing and worrying until the very end.â âThe New York Times
âA thriller centered on the meaning of identity and all the layers it can have.ââNPR
Paloma thought her perfect life would begin once she was adopted and made it to America, but sheâs about to find out that no matter how far you run, your past always catches up to youâĻ
Ever since she was adopted from a Sri Lankan orphanage, Paloma has had the best of everythingâschools, money, and parents so perfect that she fears she'll never live up to them.
Now at thirty years old and recently cut off from her parentsâ funds, she decides to sublet the second bedroom of her overpriced San Francisco apartment to Arun, who recently moved from India. Paloma has to admit, it feels good helping someone find their way in Americaâthat is until Arun discovers Paloma's darkest secret, one that could jeopardize her own fragile place in this country.
Before Paloma can pay Arun off, she finds him face down in a pool of blood. She flees the apartment but by the time the police arrive, there's no bodyâand no evidence that Arun ever even existed in the first place.
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Paloma is terrified this is all somehow tangled up in the desperate actions she took to escape Sri Lanka so many years ago. Did Palomaâs secret die with Arun or is she now in greater danger than ever before?