The It Girl
April Clarke-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford. Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the year, April was dead. Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April’s death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide… including a murder.
Themes & atmosphere
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What you might want to know about The It Girl
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Hannah Jones arrived at Oxford as a quiet scholarship student and ended up rooming with April Clarke-Cliveden, the famous, glamorous It Girl of their year. After April is found murdered, Hannah's testimony helps convict a college porter. Ten years later, his death in prison reopens everything.
No. The It Girl is a standalone Ruth Ware thriller, separate from her other novels including The Woman in Cabin 10 and One by One. Each of her thrillers is independent.
Yes. The It Girl is widely cited as a dark academia thriller in the tradition of The Secret History. The Oxford college setting and the murder of a charismatic friend group member share key DNA.
The It Girl was written by Ruth Ware, published in 2022 by Cengage Gale.
The It Girl is 352 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The It Girl takes most readers 5 to 8 hours to finish.
The It Girl is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.