The Fortune Seller: a book by Rachel Kapelke-Dale

The Fortune Seller by Rachel Kapelke-Dale (a spoiler free book summary to convince you to read this fun, nostalgic, slightly sinister journey of a book!)

This book gives the vibes of ‘Pretty Little Liars’ crossed with ‘The Saddle Club’… but at Yale AND in the early 2000’s.

Fun, right?!

Quite the millennial fever dream, wrapped up in a book, I’d say.

I had a wonderful time reading this book and jumping head first into it’s peak early 00’s nostalgia riddled fashion, following quite the dysfunctional group of friends as they traverse their final year at Yale.

The setting of ivy-covered historic buildings and wandering to the horse stables on the grounds was such a vibe and even though I know nothing about horses aside from what I’ve watched during my childhood years sitting infront of The Saddle Club on our chunky home TV, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

…until I didn’t.

But not in a ‘oh no I don’t like this book anymore’ kind of way, more in a ‘oh no things have taken a sinister stressful turn and there’s no going back’ kind of a way.

There’s more than meets the eye with this book and the author has a brilliant way of making you want to know what exactly is going to unfold the further you read.

In one sentence (no spoilers) here’s how I’d summarise the plot of The Fortune Seller:

Rosie and her friends are in their last year of Yale when Annelise (a mysterious transfer student from Stanford) infiltrates her way into the groups inner circle of competitive horsey riding, strained relationships and betrayal; all the while navigating the dire stakes of ambition, class struggle and the question of what do we really truly want from life.

If you need any more convincing, here’s a little ‘book mood board’ I made of The Fortune Seller which captures the vibes of this book.

Mood board of the book ‘The Fortune Seller’

What a fun, nostalgic, slightly sinister journey of a book!

If you want to know more about The Fortune Seller and see a fun analysis of all the elements I deliberately chose to include in my mood board, watch my YouTube video here.

Thanks for being here - I’d LOVE if you let me know if you’re going to give this book a try,

Happy reading!