# The Elissas: Three Girls, One Fate, and the Deadly Secrets of Suburbia - Hardcover

by **Samantha Leach** (Author)

**Amazon's Best Nonfiction Book of the Month for June 2023  
_Nylon's_ "June 2023's Must-Read Book Releases"  
_Pure Wow's_ "11 Books We Can't Wait to Read in June"  
_The Skimm's_ "17 of Our Favorite Books Coming Out This Summer"  
_Glamour's_ "15 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023, So Far"  
_Bustle's_ "Most Anticipated Books Of Spring & Summer 2023"  
_Harper's Bazaar's_ "23 Best Summer Beach Reads of 2023"  
_Zibby Mag's_ "Most Anticipated Spring and Summer Books"  
A _New York Post_ Best Books of the Week selection**

**Three suburban girls meet at a boarding school for troubled teens.**  
**Eight years later, they were dead.**

_Bustle_ editor Samantha Leach and her childhood best friend, Elissa, met as infants in the suburbs of Providence, Rhode Island, where they attended nursery, elementary school, and temple together. As seventh graders, they would steal drinks from bar mitzvahs and have boys over in Samantha's basement--innocent, early acts of rebellion. But after one of their shared acts, Samantha was given a disciplinary warning by their private school while Elissa was dismissed altogether, and later sent away. Samantha did not know then, but Elissa had just become one of the fifty-thousand-plus kids per year who enter the Troubled Teen Industry: a network of unregulated programs meant to reform wealthy, wayward youth.

Less than a year after graduation from Ponca Pines Academy, Elissa died at eighteen years old. In Samantha's grief, she fixated on Elissa's last years at the therapeutic boarding school, eager to understand why their paths diverged. As she spoke to mutual friends and scoured social media pages, Samantha learned of Alyssa and Alissa, Elissa's closest friends at the school who shared both her name and penchant for partying, where drugs and alcohol became their norm. The matching _Save Our Souls_ tattoo all three girls also had further fueled Samantha's fixation, as she watched their lives play out online. Four years after Elissa's death, Alyssa died, then Alissa at twenty-six.

In _The Elissas,_ Samantha endeavors to understand why they ultimately met a shared, tragic fate that she was spared, in turn, offering a chilling account of the secret lives of young suburban women.

### Author Biography

**Samantha Leach** is the entertainment editor at large at _Bustle._ She has also written for _Glamour, Elle, NYLON_, and many other publications. _The Elissas_ is her first book.

**Number of Pages:** 256

**Dimensions:** 1.1 x 9.2 x 6.3 IN

**Publication Date:** June 06, 2023

## Details

- **Price:** 29.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 29.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- The Elissas: Three Girls, One Fate, and the Deadly Secrets of Suburbia - Hardcover

---

> Source: [Smart supply deals](https://smartsupplydeals.com/products/the-elissas-three-girls-one-fate-and-the-deadly-secrets-of-suburbia-hardcover)
> Updated: 2026-07-23