A Celebration of Books,
Writers & LIterary Excellence

Save the Date


Gaithersburg
Book Festival

May 17, 2025

10am – 6pm

Bohrer Park


Moderator

Andrea Bartz

Latest Title: We Were Never Here
We Were Never Here

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • “This book is every suspense lover’s dream and it kept me up way too late turning pages. . . . A novel with crazy twists and turns that will have you ditching your Friday night plans for more chapters.”—Reese Witherspoon

A backpacking trip has deadly consequences in this “eerie psychological thriller . . . with alluring locales, Hitchcockian tension, and possibly the best pair of female leads since Thelma and Louise” (BookPage), from the bestselling author of The Lost Night and The Herd.

Marie Claire Book Club Pick • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by NPR and Marie Claire

Emily is having the time of her life—she’s in the mountains of Chile with her best friend, Kristen, on their annual reunion trip, and the women are feeling closer than ever. But on the last night of the trip, Emily enters their hotel suite to find blood and broken glass on the floor. Kristen says the cute backpacker she brought back to their room attacked her, and she had no choice but to kill him in self-defense. Even more shocking: The scene is horrifyingly similar to last year’s trip, when another backpacker wound up dead. Emily can’t believe it’s happened again—can lightning really strike twice?

Back home in Wisconsin, Emily struggles to bury her trauma, diving headfirst into a new relationship and throwing herself into work. But when Kristen shows up for a surprise visit, Emily is forced to confront their violent past. The more Kristen tries to keep Emily close, the more Emily questions her motives. As Emily feels the walls closing in on their cover-ups, she must reckon with the truth about her closest friend. Can Emily outrun the secrets she shares with Kristen, or will they destroy her relationship, her freedom—even her life?

About Andrea Bartz

Andrea Bartz is a journalist and The New York Times best-selling author of Reese’s Book Club pick, “We Were Never Here,” “The Lost Night” and “The Herd.” Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Marie Claire, Vogue and many other outlets, and she’s held editorial positions at Glamour, Psychology Today and Self, among other publications. She and her partner split their time between Brooklyn, N.Y., and the Catskills.

At GBF this year, Ms. Bartz will be moderating a panel featuring authors David Ellis and Alex Finlay.

Facebook

Instagram: @andibartz

Twitter: @andibartz

Moderator Schedule:

Venue(s):

Dashiell Hammett Pavilion

Presentation Start Time:

1:15 pm

Presentation End Time:

2:05 pm

Signing Time:

2:15 pm

Presentation Authors: