Safe in My Arms

One



When they walked into the loft that first day, they were full of hope. It was fall again. The autumn after a tough year, the economic downturn sweeping through even the toniest of communities, including theirs. But now, things were starting to look up. It was the start of a new school year. New beginnings. Everyone was eager to connect, eager to be part of something bigger.



Even those who had things to hide.



The Silver Swans Nursery Academy was new to Lauren Smith, Andrea Vaughan, and Ronnie Stuckey, but they'd heard it was the best place to send one's young children in all of Raisin Beach, California, and they felt fortunate that there was a spot for their children this term. They were excited to attend the school's Welcome Breakfast, an event held every September on the very first day the kids were sent into the classrooms. The breakfast used to be a lavish affair, with a pyramid of donuts, piles of every fruit imaginable, and an ice sculpture of the school's mascot, an erudite, bespectacled owl sitting on a branch, ostensibly ready to teach the young Silver Swans students all he knew.



But this year was more tempered. There were bagels and a variety of spreads; there were grapes and pineapple and an assortment of juices; there was coffee, the tureens lined up, the paper cups ready, though also accompanied by a sign of a smiling cartoon Planet Earth declaring, Love me! Travel mugs preferred! There was not, however, a man in a chef's hat cooking omelets to order. Nor were there caterers circulating with bacon-Gruyre bites. It felt excessive to shower everyone with a gluttonous spread after so many had lost their jobs and so many businesses had gone bust.



After Lauren Smith shook sugar packets into her coffee, she came face-to-face with Piper Jovan, the school's director, who was making a point of greeting each parent. It was hard not to gape at even a dressed-down

Sara Shepard is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Pretty Little Liars series, The Lying Game series, The Heiresses, The Elizas, The Perfectionists series, and Reputation.

"We've got a secret and we can't keep it: Safe in My Arms might be even juicier than Shepard's bestselling Pretty Little Liars series. Just don't tell A we said that. Equal parts PLL and part Big Little Lies, three moms who feel like outsiders in their ultra-wealthy community come together to uncover the truth about why the principal of their elite preschool was attacked and why they're being framed.
E! News

The New York Times bestselling author of "Pretty Little Liars" dives back into the school years, this time in an exclusive California preschool. (Think: Big Little Lies.)
GMA.com, "33 books to heat up your July"

"A smart and insightful page-turner, Safe in My Arms is a twisty mystery filled with keen observations about the impossibly high standards of motherhood and the critical importance of finding friends willing to accept you as the forgivably flawed person and parent you really are."
Kimberly McCreight, New York Times bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia and A Good Marriage  

We've read stories about the cutthroat world of high school and colleges, but in Safe in My Arms, Sara Shepard reminds us that things can get dark in academia way before that. This sharp, smart, and oh-so-twisty look at the sinister side of a privileged preschool is the kind of book that will have you staying up way too late--even if it's a school night.
Rachel Hawkins, New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs
 
Sara Shepherd returns to the domestic suspense scene with a deep dive into the lives of three mothers at a fancy private preschool, all of them harboring dark secrets. Taut, smart and twisted, Safe in My Arms is everything I love in a suspense novel, a whip-smart tale of just how far a mother will go to protect her  child. All the stars!
Kimberly Belle, internationally bestselling author of Stranger in the Lake
 
"Set against an