Lives of Consequence
Jessica Knoll '06
Novelist
Following the success of her instant bestselling debut novel Luckiest Girl Alive, author Jessica Knoll ’06 released her second thriller, The Favorite Sister, in May 2018 to critical acclaim.
Knoll’s Luckiest Girl Alive quickly became a New York Times bestseller with the film rights optioned by Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon. Critics hailed it as a “dark, twisty” thriller whose “razor-sharp writing” and “propulsive prose” (Entertainment Weekly) has drawn comparisons to Gone Girl, but stands apart with its “humor, cultural insight, and thematic heft” (Alissa Nutting, author of Tampa).
In her second novel, The Favorite Sister, Knoll has written a “sexy thriller, jam-packed with wit and snark” (Glamour) that centers on five women who sign up for a reality show called “Goal Diggers” — and a murder that takes place on the show’s set. Exploring “the blurry line between a reality show and real life — and the duplicity of family ties and friendship,” Knoll’s “darkly comic thriller” offers “a potent takedown of a reality-show-obsessed culture that seeks out the spotlight rather than harder truths” (Publishers Weekly Starred Review).
After graduating from HWS, Knoll moved to New York and worked at a talent and literary agency where she met magazine writers and editors, exposing her to a career path she hadn’t previously considered. That trajectory took her to Cosmopolitan and to Self.
“I wrote a ton at Cosmo,” says Knoll, a former senior editor at the magazine. “Many of the editors there had their own book careers—my former boss John Searles is an accomplished novelist—so I observed how these people did it, and took the time to decide the kind of book I wanted to write. Magazines teach you to have a perspective and a finely tuned eye, to keep your ear to the ground to find the angle of a story.”
When Knoll began working at Cosmo, “that was the year that a lot of chick-lit novels were all the rage,” she recalls, “but that wasn't me. I felt nothing for stories like that.”
When she decided she was ready to sit down and write a novel, Knoll knew that she wanted to accomplish three things. “I wanted to create a memorable character with a distinct voice. I wanted to create a ripped-from-the-headlines crime story; the psychological-thriller/suspense genre is what I enjoy most, so I wanted that element of intrigue. But I wanted to put my own stamp on that genre – I wanted the book to have a heart. I wanted you to turn the last page and have some kind of emotional response.”
Published by Simon & Schuster on May 12, 2015, Luckiest Girl Alive was acquired prior to publication by Lionsgate Films, with Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea producing through Pacific Standard Films.
Knoll grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and graduated from The Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, Pa. At HWS, Knoll majored in English with a concentration in creative writing. She was also an Arts Scholar.
Read an excerpt of The Favorite Sister here.