See the Cover of Kody Keplinger’s YA Cult Novel ‘Where Lost Girls Go’ (Exclusive)

Bestselling author Kody Keplinger is taking on cults in her latest book.

PEOPLE has an exclusive first look at The Duff writer’s new young adult novel, Where Lost Girls Go, set to be published next year by Scholastic Press.

The novel follows Iris, who is one of five girls living in a cabin in the Kentucky woods. The group are under the leadership of Sol, who promises to keep the girls safe in exchange for their loyalty.

Iris is content to show her devotion to Sol, and with her life amongst her “family.” But when a new girl arrives at the cabin, she leads Iris to question the life she’s living — and uncover the dark secrets that lie within her “family” too.

Keplinger debuted on the literary scene with her 2010 novel The Duff, which was published when she was just 18, and later turned into a film starring Mae Whitman. Keplinger is also the author of several other novels for young adult and middle grade readers, including A Midsummer’s Nightmare and The Swift Boys and Me.

Writing Where Lost Girls Go, however, gave Keplinger a chance to dive into one of her longtime fascinations.

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“I’ve always been interested in cults and other high control groups, but where most media focuses on the charismatic leaders, I’ve been more drawn to the people who fall under their spell,” the author tells PEOPLE. “It’s so easy to look at people in these groups and think, How could you let it go that far? or I would never fall prey to that.”

“Time after time, though, we see that the members of these cults start as very normal people,” Keplinger continues. “I wanted to explore that.”

Keplinger also turned to movies like Martha Marcy May Marlene, as well as the Hulu documentary Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence for inspiration, through her focus always remained with the affected victims.

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“I learned that identity and the loss of individuality play such a big role in the way people fall into these high control groups,” Keplinger says. “I wanted to examine that, to look at the ways someone might lose themself and become vulnerable, because I realized that, under the wrong circumstances, it could happen to any of us.”

Where Lost Girls Go will be published on July 7, 2026 and is now available for preorder, wherever books are sold.