Doll Parts
- Judith D Collins
- Aug 24
- 7 min read
By: Penny Zang
Narrator: Leah Horowitz, Helen Laser
Recorded Books
ISBN: 9781464228148
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: 08/26/2025
Format: paperback
My Rating: 5 Stars + (ARC)
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The Virgin Suicides meets I Have Some Questions For You in a dual timeline suspense following one woman as she begins to uncover the truth of the death of her estranged best friend and the Sylvia Plath adoring sad girls they attended college with decades ago, all while holding a secret that will slowly unravel her new, suburban dream life.
Some stories refuse to stay buried.
For best friends Nikki and Sadie, college was supposed to be a fresh start, a way to blast Courtney Love from car speakers and leave their youth behind. But along with sadness-obsessed girls and intrusive professors, a dark story plagues their small all-women's school: the Sylvia Club, a campus legend surrounding the deaths of multiple Sylvia Plath-adoring students, all written off as suicides. Aspiring writer Nikki finds herself drawn to the tragic tales, so much so that dead girls begin to haunt her dark imagination. As she digs deeper, Nikki soon suspects there's much more to the story - a suspicion that will lead to a tragedy of its own, one that will tear her and Sadie apart.
It's been nearly twenty years since Sadie last saw her estranged friend. Now, Nikki is dead, and when Sadie ends up pregnant by Nikki's grieving husband not long after the funeral, she finds herself stepping into her ex-best friend's seemingly perfect life. But the longer Sadie lives in Nikki's eerily preserved home, the more she sees her appear and soon, she's convinced that Nikki is sending her clues from beyond the grave. Because it seems Nikki never stopped looking for answers about what happened to the girls of the Sylvia Club, and she may have been its latest victim.
Told in a dual timeline, Doll Parts is an evocative and irresistible debut, at once an exploration of the dark chasms that break apart friendships, an ode to the aching beauty of girlhood, and a sharp portrayal of grief that can physically haunt you.
My Review
Penny Zang's stunning debut, DOLL PARTS, is nothing short of mesmerizing. With its atmospheric vibes and addictive, lyrical prose laced with dark undertones, this novel will keep you glued to the pages. It’s an emotionally charged and thought-provoking literary suspense that’s both impressive and unsettling.
So, what’s the scoop?
Set across dual timelines, the story centers around Sadie, who finds herself pulled back into the life of her estranged college best friend, Nikki, after a tragic event.
PRESENT: In the present, Nikki's mysterious death leaves Sadie grappling with grief and confusion. Sadie was a childhood best friend through college until they were no longer after Nikki married.
Nikki was a bestselling author, wife, and mother. Sadie had not seen her in eighteen years. Then she shows up at the funeral. Hearing how she died was painful. They had not spoken in almost two decades.
The day Nikki died, a man Sadie barely knew slept beside her in a cheap motel room. Then she saw the classy Barbie doll in human form. Had Nikki appeared in her motel room only hours after she died?
Now living in Nikki’s home and raising a baby, Rhi together with her friend’s husband, Harrison, who was not only a heart doctor but also a devoted father to teen Caroline.
A new mother, Sadie believes she can still communicate with Nikki. She suspects foul play in her friend’s death. Not suicide? Was she getting too close to the truth about the past? There's no way Nikki would leave her daughter Caroline behind—not after experiencing the same loss with her mother.
Caroline is going to the same school. Nikki would not want her in this school, and Sadie must stop her interactions with certain people. Protect her and her daughter.
Has Nikki left clues in her writings, her podcast? Murder among the suicides?
PAST: Multi-layered, flashing back to the past, Sadie recalls a treasure trove of memories, from slumber parties to school dances of the 90s, but darker shadows are lurking too. The campus was rife with tales of tragic girls, and Sadie and Nikki, in particular, were interested in The Sylvia Club, a legend tied to the suicides of Sylvia Plath-obsessed students. Nikki was determined to uncover the truth, and the girls of the Sylvia Club longed to be heard. What was the connection?
As we alternate between past and present, we learn what transpired at Loch Raven College, the only all-women's Catholic college in Maryland, that drove them apart and led them to two very different lives. Was Harrison an escape route for both of them?
Secrets are destined to unravel Sadie's seemingly perfect suburban life—some stories that simply refuse to stay buried.
Here’s my take…
Bewitching! Equal parts captivating and disturbing. Best friends Nikki and Sadie will steal your heart.
If this is just the beginning, I'm eager to see what Zang has in store for us next. She's an impressive writer and an author to watch. She has secured a spot on my list of favorites.
With her immersive and evocative writing style, the author brilliantly weaves a hypnotic, twisty, haunting, dark, and puzzling tale, effortlessly alternating between timelines that keep you engaged. Both narratives are equally compelling, while The Sylvia Club’s secrets become a haunting, chilling puzzle, dark and disturbing.
Beautifully written, edgy and moody, the author delves deep into nostalgia-the intricacies of female friendships—secrets, intimate and often toxic- while exploring themes of motherhood, daughters, guilt, trauma, grief, adolescent longing, suicide, mental health, the mysteries and ghosts that haunt us, and the fight for justice for the young women whose lives are cut short.
The atmospheric blend of Gothic vibes, a whodunit mystery, thriller, psychological suspense, with a touch of horror, and a campus coming-of-age story offers a rich tapestry of literary suspense, with a sprinkling of paranormal, while reflecting our cultural obsession with beautiful, sad, dead girls.
An ideal book club pick! Check out the reading resources and playlist included. In the final copy, you will find a reading group guide and a conversation with the author.
Recommendations
DOLL PARTS is a must-read for those who appreciate stories of Sylvia Plath, female friendship, exploitation, and literary suspense fiction. Fans of authors Megan Abbott, Ashley Audrain, Tammy Greenwood, Lauren Nossett, Rebecca Makkai, and Simone St. James will find a lot to love here!
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars +
Pub Date: Aug 26, 2025
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Musings...
Sylvia Plath's "musings" encompass a range of complex themes found in her journals and writings, including the intense yearning for diverse experiences, the struggle with mental illness, the desire to find purpose through writing, the critique of patriarchal structures, and a profound introspection on life and death. Her thoughts often reveal a deep emotional depth, expressing feelings of emptiness, alienation, and a simultaneous longing for profound connection and self-discovery, often using powerful metaphors and imagery to illustrate life choices and internal conflict.
I love all of Plath's poetry and The Bell Jar, the only novel written by the American writer and poet Sylvia Plath. She died by suicide a month after the publication of her first United Kingdom release.
Praise
"Doll Parts is the most mesmerizing and original book I’ve read in a long time. It’s eerie and addictive, a story that pulls you in and won’t let go. Penny Zang has a gift, and I would read anything she writes."
―Samantha Downing, Internationally Bestselling Author of My Lovely Wife and Too Old For This
"Doll Parts is a dark, atmospheric exploration of friendship, exploitation, and female rage. Delving into the most vulnerable and turbulent stages of womanhood, it’s perfect for fans of Megan Abbott and Ashley Audrain."
―Robyn Harding, International Bestselling author of The Drowning Woman
"Haunted and haunting, Doll Parts is an exquisite exploration and scathing critique of our cultural obsession with pretty dead girls, as well as a riveting mystery pieced together by two fascinating and complex protagonists. Like a beloved collection of poetry, this story is worth carrying around, dog-earing, highlighting, returning to again and again. I loved this book from its very first sentence."
―Megan Collins, author of Cross My Heart
"Doll Parts is one of the most unexpectedly imaginative, and soulful, suspense novels I’ve read in some time. Following dual mysteries, that of Sadie as she navigates motherhood and life in her late husband’s first wife’s shadow, and Nikki, years earlier, chasing a shadow of her own, Penny Zang creates a unique world infused with deep friendship, grief, and the quiet resilience of becoming. Doll Parts miraculously succeeds on both a level of suspense and lyricism, which, if done well, of course, is the very definition of great poetry."
― Lee Kravetz, author of The Last Confessions of Sylvia P.
"I’m blaming Penny Zang for having me up way too late trying to fit the pieces together of her haunting dual timeline novel. Just the right blend of dark academia and psychological suspense, Doll Parts features ghosts of the past, fractured friendships, and the most clever use of a newsletter I’ve seen. With just one book, Zang has established herself as a must-read author."
― Kellye Garrett, award winning author of Missing White Woman
"Q: What should you read if you're looking for a book haunted by Sylvia Plath? If you crave an old-fashioned whodunnit shot through with longing and lyricism? What if you want a book that honors your backlog of dead girls, your long list of former selves, loving and laughing at them all at once, while getting all the best grrrrl songs going like a riot in your head?
A: Doll Parts. Nikki and Sadie will steal your heart (and your fishnets). I couldn't put it down."
― Emily Van Duyne, author of Loving Sylvia Plath: A Reclamation
"Twisty, bold, and pulsing with the fever dream of 90s girlhood, Doll Parts is a genre all its own: part mystery, part dirge, part love letter to Baltimore, a postpartum story and a celebration of fierce female friendship. Penny Zang has written a glorious indictment of our cultural obsession with dead girls, so well-written and so fun that you don't see its true depths until you've gleefully dived in. "
― Julia Fine, author of The Upstairs House
"Penny Zang brilliantly threads the haunting legacy of Sylvia Plath through a stunning plot that incisively unravels the mystery behind a tragic series of deaths. At once devastating and hopeful, this profound, exquisitely written suspense will wholly capture you and leave an indelible mark." ― Samantha M. Bailey, USA Today and #1 international bestselling author of Hello, Juliet
About the Author
Penny Zang's debut novel, Doll Parts, is forthcoming from Sourcebooks on August 26, 2025. She is from Maryland and graduated with an MFA in Fiction from West Virginia University. Her work has appeared in the Potomac Review, Louisville Review, and South 85, among others. She is the 2024 Elizabeth Boatwright Coker fiction fellow via the South Carolina Academy of Authors. She lives in South Carolina, where she teaches English.
