Beautiful Little Fools: A Novel

Jillian Cantor

Feb 2022 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

“Jillian Cantor beautifully re-crafts an American classic in Beautiful Little Fools, placing the women of The Great Gatsby center stage: more than merely beautiful, not so little as the men in their lives assume, and certainly far from foolish. Both fresh and familiar, this page-turner is one to savor!” —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code

“Jillian Cantor’s shifting kaleidoscope of female perspectives makes F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic tale of Jazz Age longing and lust feel utterly modern. A breathtaking accomplishment.”—Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue 

USA Today bestselling author Jillian Cantor reimagines and expands on the literary classic The Great Gatsby in this atmospheric historical novel with echoes of Big Little Lies, told in three women’s alternating voices.

On a sultry August day in 1922, Jay Gatsby is shot dead in his West Egg swimming pool. To the police, it appears to be an open-and-shut case of murder/suicide when the body of George Wilson, a local mechanic, is found in the woods nearby.

Then a diamond hairpin is discovered in the bushes by the pool, and three women fall under suspicion. Each holds a key that can unlock the truth to the mysterious life and death of this enigmatic millionaire. 

Daisy Buchanan once thought she might marry Gatsby—before her family was torn apart by an unspeakable tragedy that sent her into the arms of the philandering Tom Buchanan.

Jordan Baker, Daisy’s best friend, guards a secret that derailed her promising golf career and threatens to ruin her friendship with Daisy as well.

Catherine McCoy, a suffragette, fights for women’s freedom and independence, and especially for her sister, Myrtle Wilson, who’s trapped in a terrible marriage.

Their stories unfold in the years leading up to that fateful summer of 1922, when all three of their lives are on the brink of unraveling. Each woman is pulled deeper into Jay Gatsby’s romantic obsession, with devastating consequences for all of them.

Jillian Cantor revisits the glittering Jazz Age world of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, retelling this timeless American classic from the women’s perspective. Beautiful Little Fools is a quintessential tale of money and power, marriage and friendship, love and desire, and ultimately the murder of a man tormented by the past and driven by a destructive longing that can never be fulfilled. 

Ratings and reviews

The Great Gatsby is such an amazing work of art that it takes a special person to even attempt to author a companion piece. The majority fail. Jillian Cantor, however, has wrote a masterful piece that lets us into the hearts and minds of the four main women in Gatsby. While the original in itself was beautiful, this book sheds more light on why they acted the way they did and what drove their actions. While it's an imaginary piece and may not be exactly what Fitzgerald thought while writing Gatsby, it still holds its own as a beautiful imaginative book that takes you right back to the 20's. Daisy, Myrtle, Catherine and Jordan all know Jay Gatsby in various ways. Jay is still in love with Daisy, who's unfortunately now married to Tom. Tom is a serial cheater and currently has a married lover of his own, Myrtle. Myrtle is trapped in an abusive marriage of her own, and her sister Catherine tries to find a way to get her out. And Jordan is Daisy's life long best friend. A golf pro hiding an explosive secret of her own. When Jay Gatsby is found dead in his pool in the summer of 1922, a detective is hired to find out exactly what happened to him. Finding a single diamond hairpin in the trees by the pool, the detective follows each woman in an attempt to find out which one if any killed him and why. A beautiful romp through Fitzgerald's Gilded Age with a murder mystery thrown in for good measure, this read is an exquisite addition to The Great Gatsby story. Using language a bit easier to read than the original Gatsby, this just may make this story more accessible to those who don't love the original Gatsby. Told in alternating voices of each character, every chapter is necessary and easy to follow. This book will make you pick up Gatsby again, or dive in for the first time. Reading it, however, isn't necessary to love this book right on its own. I adored every single page, and loved to watch each woman find her strength as the story progressed. Five HUGE stars. This gem drops January 4, 2022. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5 Thank you to NetGalley, Jillian Cantor, and Harper Perennial for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The book follows the lives of the women of The Great Gatsby. Daisy, Jordan, Catherine and Myrtle. And what interesting lives the author gave them!! The author gives more insight to the disgraceful male characters as well. I hated them all. Great story and great writing. This book is soooo good.

About the author

Jillian Cantor is the author of award-winning and bestselling novels for adults and teens, including In Another Time, The Hours Count, Margot, and The Lost Letter, which was a USA Today bestseller. She has a BA in English from Penn State University and an MFA from the University of Arizona. Cantor lives in Arizona with her husband and two sons.