Little One

A searing new novel from the USA Today bestselling author of Such a Bad Influence, about a young woman whose life is upended when a journalist uncovers her hidden past as the daughter of an insidious cult leader.

From the outside, Catharine West’s childhood sounds idyllic—balmy days spent running barefoot through the gardens, plucking ripe tomatoes straight from the vine as sunlight warmed her skin. Her parents built a life that was simple and community-focused, an ethos that soon attracted others in need of a change. For a time, Catharine’s magnetic father was enough to keep the farm thriving, and temptation outside its gates. But as she grew older, the farm and family she was raised to love faded into something darker, forcing Catharine to evolve with it.

​It’s now been a decade since Catharine abandoned the farm and has done her best to reinvent her life, until an email from a charismatic journalist interrupts her peace. Her first instinct is to ignore the stranger’s prying questions—whether she knew about a mysterious “cult” in central Florida, whether she is the same “Catharine-with-an-A” who lived there for a time. But when she realizes the journalist knows far more than he’s letting on, she reconsiders. If Catharine can stay one step ahead of him, she may be able to find the one thing she never wanted to leave behind—her sister, Linna—and make sure her own secrets remain buried too.

Sharp-eyed and sweltering, Little One masterfully captures the dread of facing your deepest desires, when the hunger to become your best self threatens to drown out everything else. An achingly astute look at modern womanhood and wellness culture, it tackles the enduring question: How far would you go to be good?

• "A smart, fast-paced examination of wellness culture, disordered eating, addiction in all its forms, and family secrets. I loved this novel." 
  Liz Moore, author of, The God of the Woods
• "Olivia Muenter’s stand-out Little One is a taut and unflinching examination of being the obligatory good girl, and what happens when hunger threatens the control we hold so tightly. The alternating chapters between Catherine’s harrowing past growing up on her father’s wellness commune, and her carefully constructed life in present day, make for a dark, deeply engaging and emotionally charged ride from start to finish."
  Ashley Audrain, bestselling author of, The Push
• “With her newest, the bold and delicious Little One, Olivia Muenter both rewrites the victim narrative of the cult member and takes on our cultural obsession with true crime. Catharine is a brilliant, diamond-strong protagonist, but where will her confessions lead? A swift, smart, tantalizing novel. Olivia Muenter nails it.” 
  Amity Gaige, author of, Heartwood
• "Little One is lush, unsettling, and utterly magnetic. Olivia Muenter strips the shine from the utopian promises of both cult and wellness to reveal their shared shadow—the way the hunger for transformation can slide into dangerous control, and the desire to belong can become a blinding trap. Written with heat, beauty, and unflinching precision, this is the kind of novel that keeps you turning pages long after dark. A knockout."
  Chelsea Bieker, bestselling author of, Madwoman
• "Hypnotic, transporting and deliciously unsettling, Little One buried under my skin from the first page. The story of control, betrayal and the fragility of memory is taut and tense, with each thrilling twist both entirely unpredictable and inevitable at the same time. Muenter’s characterisation is as sensitively layered as ever, and the setting is so richly-drawn that I could feel the dirt of the farm underneath my own fingertips. Creeping and addictive, this isn’t a book you’ll forget anytime soon."
  Ella Berman, author of, The Comeback
• "Little One is a suspenseful, smart novel written with heaps of heart and intelligence—as well as beautiful, evocative prose. It asks smart questions about family, guilt, and coercion, through the prism of a wellness-oriented cult in Florida. I devoured it."
  Clémence Michallon, bestselling author of, The Quiet Tenant and Our Last Resort
• “Olivia Muenter’s Little One is a brilliant, fresh take on the cult thriller that links the ‘swallow-your-medicine’ groupthink of cults to the ways women have been conditioned to think about their bodies and desires: always in terms of restraint and control, with an eye toward pleasing others. Not only is Muenter’s protagonist Catharine smart and layered—both a victim and not—but her story is so propulsive I could’ve sworn the pages turned themselves. This is a stay-up-all-night, suffer-a-book-hangover-the-next-day banger, with one of the most satisfying endings I’ve ever read: I cackled and then cheered.”
  Ashley Winstead, author of, Midnight is the Darkest Hour