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Table of Contents
Reading Group Guide
About the Book
For fans of Lessons in Chemistry and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, a bold, big concept debut about a secret club of women who risk everything to ask the question: If you could be anyone…who would you dare to become?
Beth Greenwood has spent her life playing it safe. She’s been a graphic designer at the same company for a decade, she dutifully meets men from the apps for dinner and sometimes casual sex, she thinks about decorating her sterile, small apartment. Her comfort and joy are her Sunday catch-ups with her sister Elspeth, whose perfect life, very different from Beth’s, has recently started to unravel.
One day, Beth meets a woman who invites her to join a secret club. It’s not knitting or books; it’s living out an experience you’ve always wanted to have. Cirque du Soleil acrobat, gonzo graffiti artist, performer in the BDSM underground scene: these women will get you everything you need in order to—temporarily—be the person you might have been, had your life taken one or two different turns.
At first Beth is dazzled by her new friendships and the opportunity they offer her to test the boundaries of her identity, to escape from her quiet, ordinary life. But even the best of clubs can offer only so much distraction, and when the stakes of Beth’s real life become uncomfortably high, she must ask herself, really and truly, who she’s going to choose to be, and who is going to nurture her when she needs it most.
The Players Club is a high-concept but grounded debut about the power of female friendship, the bonds that hold us in place, the human need for creativity, and the seductive possibility of reinvention. As immersive as it is incisive, it introduces Rachel Mills as a wise and warm chronicler of the human heart.
Beth Greenwood has spent her life playing it safe. She’s been a graphic designer at the same company for a decade, she dutifully meets men from the apps for dinner and sometimes casual sex, she thinks about decorating her sterile, small apartment. Her comfort and joy are her Sunday catch-ups with her sister Elspeth, whose perfect life, very different from Beth’s, has recently started to unravel.
One day, Beth meets a woman who invites her to join a secret club. It’s not knitting or books; it’s living out an experience you’ve always wanted to have. Cirque du Soleil acrobat, gonzo graffiti artist, performer in the BDSM underground scene: these women will get you everything you need in order to—temporarily—be the person you might have been, had your life taken one or two different turns.
At first Beth is dazzled by her new friendships and the opportunity they offer her to test the boundaries of her identity, to escape from her quiet, ordinary life. But even the best of clubs can offer only so much distraction, and when the stakes of Beth’s real life become uncomfortably high, she must ask herself, really and truly, who she’s going to choose to be, and who is going to nurture her when she needs it most.
The Players Club is a high-concept but grounded debut about the power of female friendship, the bonds that hold us in place, the human need for creativity, and the seductive possibility of reinvention. As immersive as it is incisive, it introduces Rachel Mills as a wise and warm chronicler of the human heart.
About the Author
Patrick Bailey
Rachel Mills is Director and literary agent at Rachel Mills Literary. She is a regular contributor across UK media, including The Telegraph, Front Row, The Times and as a columnist for the Bookseller.
Product Details
- Publisher: Atria Books (May 19, 2026)
- Length: 288 pages
- ISBN13: 9781668218006
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Raves and Reviews
"The Players Club, showcases Rachel Mills' remarkable creativity and her deep understanding of sisterhood. This novel of reinvention and rebirth will keep you turning pages and wondering what you would do if you had the chance to transform into the person of your dreams. A luminous debut." —Jill Santopolo internationally bestselling author of The Light We Lost
"Twisty and thought-provoking...this book will make you want to smile, cry, and wonder: who do I want to become?" —Tara Conklin, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Romantics
"Mills has crafted a tale that starts as a whimsical adventure and morphs into a memorable portrait of friendship, identity, and grief...Mills takes big risks here but always manages to nail the landing. An original, surprisingly moving tale." —Kirkus
“Masterful, wise, and deeply moving, Mills dissects the complexities of time passing and the power of choice with empathy and precision. The Players Club is a breathtaking look at the masks we wear, and who we truly are once we take them off.” —Kathy Wang, author of The Satisfaction Cafe
“Clever, brilliant and magnificent. In the absence of being able to join a Life-Playing Cradle, the next best thing is reading this.” —Cathy Rentzenbrink, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Last Act of Love
“Original, layered, thoughtful and mind-bendingly plausible . . . had me thinking about it a lot, even when I wasn’t reading it.” —Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things
“I loved it. I inhaled it. Funny and heartbreaking and smart.” —Sam Baker, creator of The Shift with Sam Baker
“Uplifting, playful and insightful, this story of love and loss accentuates the deepest joy of being alive.” —Olly Smith, presenter of Saturday Kitchen and author of Death by Noir
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