Cackle

For most of her life, Annie has been the agreeable one, careful never to make waves. When a long relationship ends abruptly, she decides it's time to reinvent herself. She takes a teaching job in a tiny village upstate, trading the crowded streets of Manhattan for a place that looks like a postcard. The locals greet her warmly, and her new home is lovely, aside from a stubborn problem with spiders that refuses to go away.

Then she meets Sophie, a dazzling and self-assured woman who singles Annie out and sets out to befriend her. Sophie's message is blunt: stop apologizing for taking up space and start living for yourself. Sophie embodies that philosophy, and Annie finds herself drawn to her, eager to spend more time in her company, even though the other townspeople seem wary of her. Sophie's ageless, otherworldly look, her mansion deep in the woods, and a strange power she appears to command all raise questions Annie can't quite dismiss. Could there be more to Sophie than meets the eye?