PR Book Club - Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin

Join us for a self-paced book club, Black Eyed Susans, a gripping psychological thriller that blends memory, trauma, and the enduring pull of unsolved mysteries.

At PR Book Club, our selections often connect to photography, not just as a subject, but as a way of seeing, remembering, and interpreting the world. Black Eyed Susans both honors and quietly challenges that tradition. While photography appears subtly throughout the novel, almost as visual Easter eggs, the deeper connection lies in how the story explores memory, perspective, and truth, much like a photograph itself.

We chose Black Eyed Susans for its powerful sense of place and its roots close to home. Written by our local-based author Julia Heaberlin, this hometown‑grown thriller grounds its suspense in familiar landscapes, reminding us that compelling stories often live right in our own backyard.

Black Eyed Susans is a haunting, fast‑paced novel that follows Tessa Cartwright, the sole survivor of a brutal crime from nearly twenty years earlier. As new evidence emerges, Tessa is forced to confront unreliable memories and long‑buried truths, while the past threatens to repeat itself. With its alternating timelines and emotional depth, the novel explores how survival reshapes identity and how justice is never as clear as it seems.

Readers love this book for its:

• Smart, tense storytelling
• Strong female protagonist
• Psychological depth and emotional resonance
• Twists that linger long after the final chapter

Julia Heaberlin is an award‑winning American author known for her compelling psychological thrillers that center on memory, justice, and women’s experiences. A former journalist, she brings a sharp investigative sensibility to her fiction, blending emotional insight with carefully plotted suspense. Black Eyed Susans was her debut novel and received widespread acclaim, setting the tone for her later works such as Paper Ghosts and We Are All the Same in the Dark.

📖 Book: Black Eyed Susans
💬 Who: All readers welcome

We hope you’ll read along.

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