Samantha Miller is a celebrity wellness guru, who is worshiped by her young fans. Her company Shakti has grown to become a global wellness brand, extolling the virtues of female empowerment.
Samantha tells her followers how to live their lives, and how to be happy - she is at the peak of her career and has just hit three million social media followers.
Her new book Chaste has gone straight to the top of the charts, and she’s much in demand, appearing at events far and wide, speaking her truth....until something happens which sets her on a very different path:
“I’m flawed. I’ve never pretended to be anything else. But we put people on pedestals, don’t we? We expect them to be perfect, to be fully enlightened beings.” ~Samantha
Her best friend from the past, Lisa, who Samantha has seemingly left behind years ago in her pursuit of fame and fortune, reappears like a hurricane. And it’s all because of an essay Samantha wrote about her best ever sexual experience having been with a woman - the woman who happened to have been her best friend at the time.
Lisa is not famous and has no desire to be. She has remained in the town in which they grew up, and married her childhood sweetheart, Josh. She is the mother of twin daughters and lives a quiet life. Or at least until the essay is made public. Lisa finds herself identified by default (by the initial ‘L’ and the clue that they were best friends).
Samantha had vowed never to speak publicly about the experience, and Lisa feels a deep sense of shame and betrayal.
Samantha’s manager, Jane, on the other hand, initially sees the situation as an opportunity. And this seems to be part of the issue. Samantha has been surrounded by people with an interest in her monetary value, rather than her wellbeing:
“What a hook – the friend you fucked as a teen becomes a global phenomenon while you’re just a small-town mom. It’s like Three Women on speed.’ ‘~ Jane
Jane … please. Don’t put it like that. This is someone’s life you’re talking about. Why do I have to keep reminding you of that?” ~ Samantha
A Reddit post appears out of the blue, making claims that the sexual encounter between Lisa and Samantha was in fact non-consensual. It is unclear as to who has written the Reddit post (and the reader is kept guessing until the end):
“I was drunk on the night Samantha Miller refers to in her essay and incapable of giving any kind of meaningful consent. And what do we call it when one person isn’t capable of giving consent? That’s right, ladies and gentlemen … It’s sexual assault.”
What is clear, however, is an email sent by Lisa to Samantha’s manager, which reinforces the notion that the sex between the best friends was not Lisa’s choice.
The whole situation is complicated by an earlier essay written by Samantha, urging her fans to always believe victims. Now Samantha finds herself on the receiving end of allegations, her fully mobilised fanbase are unsure as to what to believe, and the pushback on social media begins immediately.
Samantha is horrified, devastated, and acutely understands the consequences about to rain down on her. Samantha remembers the night very differently from Lisa, and believes that all that’s needed is for Lisa to issue a corrective statement and all will be ok.
Lisa admits that the email was sent whilst under the influence of alcohol, and that she was seething that Samantha had used the experience in this way. But it is still unclear as to what exactly did happen that night. Lisa is adamant that no such statement will be released as this will bring further media scrutiny to her quiet life, and to her young children’s lives:
“I’m not making a statement,’ Lisa said, her face paling. ‘I’m not a celebrity. I don’t live in your world, Sam. I just want to ignore this and things will go back to normal eventually. There’ll be a new scandal and who’s gonna care about some housewife in the suburbs?” ~Lisa
“What about what’s fair to me?’ Sam felt tears pricking her eyes. ‘What about what’s fair to real victims? When women like you make false allegations, it just makes everything worse for the rest of us. You have to say the story is bullshit and that you have no idea who wrote the Reddit post.” ~Samantha
“And I made myself into this. I made myself a fucking idol for millions of women around the world. They’ll do anything I tell them to do, anything. I fucking own them. And I’m telling you now, you’re not taking that away from me. Do you hear me?” ~Samantha
There is a complicated love triangle at the heart of the story, as Lisa's husband Josh, we discover, was originally Samantha’s childhood sweetheart:
“Lisa had fucked her over when they were teenagers, abandoning her supposed best friend when Sam had needed her most, and now she wanted to destroy Sam’s life. She was like Shiva, the god of destruction, the Tower card incarnate. She wouldn’t be happy until Sam was buried alive and she had dug the grave herself.” ~Samantha
“Why did Lisa get to have the perfect family and Sam did not? How was that fair?” ~Samantha
And as the story progresses, we see the ever more desperate Samantha trying any way she can to ingratiate herself back into the lives of Lisa and Josh, and to prove to the watching world that she is not guilty.
Things take a turn for the worst when Shakti’s crisis management engine seems to stall and the story falls into the hands of a New York Post journalist, who also has possession of some pretty explosive private emails.
Samantha watches in horror as she rapidly loses fans and likes on social media, and posts appear tearing her reputation apart online. The journalist puts a shout out for damning stories, and many willing participants come forward. Will the New York Post journalist succeed in publishing her story, further damaging Samantha’s career?
What ensues is a battle of wills, as Lisa and Samantha’s worlds collide. The two girls become friends again and their complex, interwoven life is laid bare.
Rebecca (Becky), a mutual friend from school plays a key part in the events that follow, as we are provided further insight into the messy events of the past and how they cast their shadow forward:
“You made my life miserable and I’ve had to watch for the last ten years as you made a career out of being kind, preaching about the importance of “connectivity” and “collectivity” and all this shit about treating others as you’d want to be treated. I thought I was losing my fucking mind.” ~Rebecca to Samantha
The love that Samantha and Lisa have for one another is intense, complex, and baffling to everyone else in their lives. Josh can only watch helplessly as his wife is emotionally captivated once again by her powerful and compelling best friend.
The reader is kept guessing until the very end what exactly did happen that fateful night, and indeed whose truth is the truth.
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My name is Annie Hope. I am a writer with lived experience as a family member of someone who had the Knock. I am a professional writer, and I am able to work with your organisation, charity or with you as an individual in a variety of different ways. Please have a look at my website to find out more.
I also run a free writing group for family members of those who are convicted of sexual offences. You can find out more about the group here. You can find blog posts with free advice about writing and helpful tips in my main blog index here.
You can contact me by email anniehopewriter@gmail.com
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