A Girl Like Us: A Novel – McLoughlin Anna Sophia (2025)

Succession meets Saltburn in a locked-room thriller about immense wealth, unchecked power and the secrets that threaten to bring a powerful family down. In 2004, former reality-TV star and party girl Maya Miller marries Colin Sterling, the world’s most eligible bachelor and a member of the globally famous Sterling family. Their history of aristocratic titles and land holdings rivals that of the British royal family, while their media empire is comparable to the Murdochs. To some, Maya represents the American dream; to others, she is a gold digger. When Colin’s cousin Arianna, heiress to the family’s immense fortune, is murdered, Maya is thrust into the spotlight, first as the newly revealed next heir and then as the prime suspect. The entire Sterling family is placed under lockdown at Silver House, their ancestral estate in the English countryside. Although they are told it is for their own safety, Maya becomes convinced that the purpose is not to keep threats out but to keep secrets in. She must uncover the truth hidden within the Sterling family and discover why Arianna, a girl she had never met, chose her to take her place. Maya has secrets of her own, however, and knows that to survive the Sterlings, she must beat them at their own game.