The Girls by Emma Cline is a piece of contemporary literary fiction published in 2016 by Random House. Cline’s debut novel uses some elements of historical fiction and coming-of-age narratives and is based on the Manson Family murders in 1969. These historical events and cultural elements of California in the 1960s are important in recreating the tension of that time period. Cline’s novel is also a universal story of girlhood and coming of age and provides critical commentary on the ways in which society abuses and misuses girls and young women.

The Girls was a New York Times bestseller and catapulted Cline’s literary career. It is currently in development for a television adaptation by Hulu.

This guide is based on the 2016 Random House edition of the novel.

Content Warning: The novel and this guide include multiple references to sexual abuse and coercion.

Plot Summary

Evie is an adult woman whose life has not quite panned out as she had dreamed it would. She flits from job to job, living at the margins of other people’s lives. She is currently housesitting for her friend Dan, who lets her live in his house. Evie’s solitude is disrupted by the unexpected arrival of Dan’s son Julian and Julian’s teenage girlfriend, Sasha. Julian is a drug dealer who transports marijuana throughout the state of California. Sasha is a shy girl who follows Julian around. In Sasha, Evie immediately sees a past version of herself.

When Evie was 14 years old, in the summer of 1969, she was bored, tired of being average, and resentful over her parents’ divorce. Her life changes when she sees a wild-looking, bohemian young woman in the park who escapes with other eccentric-looking people in a bus. Evie is floored and inspired by this woman’s confidence. She runs into her again in a market and buys toilet paper for her. Evie badly wants this young woman’s attention. Finally, Evie gets it when she breaks her bicycle chain, and the mysterious bus pulls up to help her.

The young woman introduces herself as Suzanne and brings Evie to the ranch that hosts Suzanne’s commune. Evie meets the other girls, Donna, Roos, and Helen. She also meets a young man named Guy. There are other people at the ranch, but these people are the core of the group. The ranch is dilapidated and dirty, but the people who live at the ranch speak of it like it’s the Garden of Eden. They all pitch in to keep up the house and feed one another. Evie immediately loves the ranch because the people there make her feel welcome and seen. Evie wants to be a part of something interesting and larger than herself.

Evie meets Russell, the leader of this hippie-like group. Russell is a spiritual leader and a musician who feeds his followers narratives about self-possession and free love. Russell can tell that Evie wants to be a part of the group, so he invites her into his trailer, where he has her perform oral sex on him. Evie is shocked by the sexuality but also pleased by it. She is happy to try to pass the tests that are a part of becoming part of the ranch. When Evie starts stealing from her mother to give money to the ranch, she earns even more attention and appreciation from Russell and Suzanne.

Evie falls in love with Suzanne. She is attracted to Suzanne’s darkness, wild looks, and confidence. Evie wants Suzanne and she also wants to be like Suzanne. She does everything she can to try to fit in; she engages in sexual acts with Russell, sleeps at the ranch, steals from her mother, and breaks into people’s homes, which is one of Suzanne’s hobbies. Evie grows increasingly distant from her mother, who believes that Evie is spending the summer before she goes to boarding school hanging out with school friends. Evie is resentful of her mother for including her new boyfriend, Frank, in their lives. Evie internalizes the group dynamic at the ranch and rejects her mother’s structured, suburban life.

Russell is friends with a famous musician named Mitch, whom Russell has convinced to help him get a record deal. When Mitch doesn’t deliver on his promise, Russell sends the girls to seduce Mitch back into a friendship with Russell. Suzanne brings Evie with her to Mitch’s house. Evie finds Mitch old and ridiculous, but it’s clear that the girls are there to have sex with him—a gift from Russell. Evie doesn’t want to have sex with Mitch, so Suzanne helps get her into the mood by performing oral sex on her. Sex with Suzanne is pleasurable and fulfilling for Evie, but sex with Mitch fills her with shame.

Evie is finally caught breaking into people’s homes. Her mother sends her away to live with her father in another town. Evie likes her father’s girlfriend, Tamar, who is young and shares some of Evie’s interests in music and popular culture. But Evie can’t bear to be away from the ranch. After two weeks at her father’s home, she runs away and hitchhikes back to the ranch. She is shocked to find the ranch a much different place than she left it. Russell is angry because Mitch has told him he won’t help him get a record deal. Russell wants revenge on Mitch. The girls at the ranch are so under Russell’s spell that they are angry on his behalf. The ranch has become more dilapidated and the girls meaner. Evie doesn’t want to accept this change and tries to ignore the signs that something is very wrong. The girls, Guy, and Russell come up with a plan to avenge Russell against Mitch, but they don’t include Evie in the planning. Evie insists on coming along with whatever they’ve planned, but on the drive to Mitch’s house, Evie annoys Suzanne, and Suzanne forces her out of the car. The group abandons her on an empty street while Guy, Helen, Donna, and Suzanne continue to Mitch’s house. Evie finds a gas station and calls Tamar, who comes to pick her up. The next day, Evie learns on the news what the girls and Guy had planned.

Suzanne, Donna, Helen, and Guy went to Mitch’s house, expecting him to be there. But Mitch had been away on business; his house manager, Scotty, and Scotty’s new girlfriend, Gwen, were there, as well as Mitch’s ex-girlfriend Linda and her young son, Christopher. The group gathered Scotty, Gwen, Linda, and Christopher. They stabbed each of them to death, leaving a bloody mess and a massacre behind. They also painted a heart on one of the walls using Linda’s blood. Evie is devastated by the loss of Suzanne. She knows that what they have done is horrifying, yet she can’t help but continue to love Suzanne, recognizing in Suzanne a capacity for violence in herself.

It takes the police months to figure out the identity of the killers and to track them down. In the meantime, the murders at Mitch’s house have rattled the nation. Californians start believing that their once-safe communities are subject to grave danger. Evie moves to another town for boarding school. Despite her fears, she enjoys boarding school and makes new friends. She doesn’t tell anyone about Suzanne and the others. One day, Suzanne arrives at the boarding school. They speak briefly. Suzanne sees Evie’s room, and she shows Evie the group’s repainted bus. It’s the last time Evie sees Suzanne in person. Shortly after, Suzanne, Donna, Guy, Helen, and Russell are arrested. Their trials are sensationalized in the press, and they all receive serious prison terms.

The summer of 1969 and Evie’s proximity to such horror haunt her for the rest of her life. She grows up angry, embittered, and uncertain. As an adult, she meets Sasha and worries about Sasha’s future because she sees the ways Sasha ignores Julian’s cruelty. Evie tries to connect with Sasha to help her get away from Julian. Evie’s concern for Sasha escalates when Julian’s older drug boss, Zav, comes to the house and sexually harasses Sasha. Ultimately, Sasha chooses remaining with Julian over accepting Evie’s overtures of help. This saddens but doesn’t surprise Evie. Evie, traumatized by the difficult experiences and life lessons in her early adolescence, continues to be fearful of the world around her.