Some stories refuse to stay buried.
Doll Parts: A Novel
August 26, 2025 (Sourcebooks Landmark)
For readers of The Virgin Suicides and I Have Some Questions For You, Doll Parts is a dual timeline suspense novel following one woman as she begins to uncover the truth of the death of her estranged best friend and the Sylvia Plath adoring sad girls they attended college with decades ago, all while holding a secret that will slowly unravel her new, suburban dream life.
For best friends Nikki and Sadie, college was supposed to be a fresh start, a way to blast Courtney Love from car speakers and leave their youth behind. But along with sadness-obsessed girls and intrusive professors, a dark story plagues their small all-women's school: the Sylvia Club, a campus legend surrounding the deaths of multiple Sylvia Plath-adoring students, all written off as suicides. Aspiring writer Nikki finds herself drawn to the tragic tales, so much so that dead girls begin to haunt her dark imagination. As she digs deeper, Nikki soon suspects there's much more to the story - a suspicion that will lead to a tragedy of its own, one that will tear her and Sadie apart.
It's been nearly twenty years since Sadie last saw her estranged friend. Now, Nikki is dead, and when Sadie ends up pregnant by Nikki's grieving husband not long after the funeral, she finds herself stepping into her ex-best friend's seemingly perfect life. But the longer Sadie lives in Nikki's eerily preserved home, the more she sees her appear and soon, she's convinced that Nikki is sending her clues from beyond the grave. Because it seems Nikki never stopped looking for answers about what happened to the girls of the Sylvia Club, and she may have been its latest victim.
Told in a dual timeline, Doll Parts is a provocative and irresistible debut, at once an exploration of the dark the chasms that break apart friendships, an ode to the aching beauty of girlhood, and a sharp portrayal of grief that can physically haunt you.
Praise for DOLL PARTS
"DOLL PARTS drew me in like a ghost to a stage light. A lyrical, haunting, and oh-so-alive ode to the loves of our lives--friends, mothers, daughters--and the stories we tell and retell and un-tell in their absence, enshrouded in dual mysteries unfolding twenty years apart. Assured, beautiful, unsettling--read this novel when the sky is heavy and the bruises in your heart are tender. Penny Zang is a monumental talent."
--Katie Gutierrez, bestselling author of More Than You'll Ever Know
"Doll Parts is a dark, atmospheric exploration of friendship, exploitation, and female rage. Delving into the most vulnerable and turbulent stages of womanhood, it’s perfect for fans of Megan Abbott and Ashley Audrain."
— Robyn Harding, International Bestselling author of The Drowning Woman
"Doll Parts is one of the most unexpectedly imaginative, and soulful, suspense novels I’ve read in some time. Following dual mysteries, that of Sadie as she navigates motherhood and life in her late husband’s first wife’s shadow, and Nikki, years earlier, chasing a shadow of her own, Penny Zang creates a unique world infused with deep friendship, grief, and the quiet resilience of becoming. Doll Parts miraculously succeeds on both a level of suspense and lyricism, which, if done well, of course, is the very definition of great poetry."
— Lee Kravetz, author of The Last Confessions of Sylvia P.
"Penny Zang brilliantly threads the haunting legacy of Sylvia Plath through a stunning plot that incisively unravels the mystery behind a tragic series of deaths. At once devastating and hopeful, this profound, exquisitely written suspense will wholly capture you and leave an indelible mark."
— Samantha M. Bailey, USA Today and #1 international bestselling author of Hello, Juliet
Praise for DOLL PARTS
"Sad Girl Cult but make it crime fiction: the genre-blending Doll Parts is as dark and evocative as tear-smudged eyeliner, as rebellious and moody as a song by Hole. Part mystery, part bildungsroman, and part paean to female friendship, Zang’s debut examines our cultural obsession with beautiful dead women--and, against a world that might prefer them silent, cold, and pretty, the lengths to which two best friends will go to remain vital, messy, and true to themselves, their bravery reverberating across timelines."
-Ashley Winstead, USA Today-bestselling author of Midnight is the Darkest Hour
"I’m blaming Penny Zang for having me up way too late trying to fit the pieces together of her haunting dual timeline novel. Just the right blend of dark academia and psychological suspense, Doll Parts features ghosts of the past, fractured friendships, and the most clever use of a newsletter I’ve seen. With just one book, Zang has established herself as a must-read author."
— Kellye Garrett, award winning author of Missing White Woman
"Q: What should you read if you're looking for a book haunted by Sylvia Plath? If you crave an old-fashioned whodunnit shot through with longing and lyricism? What if you want a book that honors your backlog of dead girls, your long list of former selves, loving and laughing at them all at once, while getting all the best grrrrl songs going like a riot in your head?
A: Doll Parts. Nikki and Sadie will steal your heart (and your fishnets). I couldn't put it down."
— Emily Van Duyne, author of Loving Sylvia Plath: A Reclamation
"DOLL PARTS is smart, sly, and suspenseful. Zang’s riveting debut offers an unflinching look at the many ways we betray girls and the bonds they forge to try to save themselves."