Society of Lies: A Novel

While getting breakfast, Naomi runs into Ben, who says Jamie isn’t his girlfriend. They broke up months ago, but Ben didn’t correct her because seeing Naomi with Liam made him jealous. Naomi says she still has feelings for Liam. Ben thinks Naomi deserves someone “better.”

Amy isn’t in class, and when Naomi returns to their suite, she finds it “destroyed.” Bottles, clothes, books, and trash litter the floor. Amy is bleeding from the broken glass. Naomi thinks Pete Whitney is the culprit, but Amy says she was the target, and the attack is a response to her article. The perpetrators spraypainted sexist and anti-Asian slurs. They also wrote “Nos Semper Vigilantes” or “We Are Always Watching” (214).

Maya reveals Lila’s warnings to Daisy without exposing Lila. Daisy rips up Lila’s note but admits Sterling has flaws. Daisy says Greystone exists within Sterling. Princeton banned secret societies, so secret organizations started operating inside eating clubs. Maya compares Princeton’s Greystone to Yale’s Skull and Bones.

DuPont, a member of Sterling’s board of trustees, welcomes the new Sterling members. He says Sterling began in 1879 and has an expansive “web.” He asks the members how long they’ll be a part of Sterling, and they reply, “Usque ad finem” or “to the very end” (228). Daisy brings Maya into the library, where DuPont pulls back a rug, revealing a trapdoor. They go down a spiral staircase, and Daisy gets Maya to take a microdose of a psychedelic mushroom. She tells Maya that she has been “tapped” for Greystone.

In a tiny office, Maya meets with DuPont. She signs a non-disclosure agreement and officially joins Greystone. Maya and DuPont discuss her history. She attended Sacred Heart because the school offered her financial aid. DuPont calls out the lie about her investor grandfather, promising not to tell anyone. He compliments Maya’s application essay about her mother. DuPont’s mother died when he was young. His father left when he was a child. DuPont knows Maya’s mother was a nurse, though that detail wasn’t in her essay.

Lila enters and whispers to DuPont. She has a manila envelope with the name Marsden. Maya wonders who Marsden is. She goes upstairs to celebrate her Sterling acceptance. Soaked in champagne, Maya and the new members are in their underwear as the preexisting members pass them over their heads. As she’s now also a part of Greystone, Maya is given a ring with Greystone’s insignia.

Outside, Daisy and Maya see Lila and DuPont close together on a loveseat. Daisy thinks DuPont is attractive. Maya and Daisy agreed they would be happy to have sex with him. In class, DuPont gives Maya an A on her test and an envelope with $5000.

Amy tells Naomi that she isn’t really working on an article about water quality in low-income areas. She is investigating Greystone. During the Hunt scandal, The New York Times focused on financial crimes, yet Amy noticed suspicious emails between DuPont and Hunt.

About 10 years ago, a student, Lila Jones, disappeared and died while on a Greystone ski trip. The police report concludes Lila died of hypothermia, but neither Amy nor Lila’s brother believes that’s true. Amy discovered that Lila was suing a Greystone member for assault. Before the ski trip, DuPont’s wife filed for divorce. Amy believes Lila and DuPont were having an affair, and Lila was suing him. Naomi thinks it’s dangerous for Amy to investigate her theory, and Amy thinks it’s unsafe for Naomi to belong to Greystone.

As a Greystone member, Maya feels different from before. At the same time, she doesn’t know why they chose her, which makes her feel vulnerable, as if her privileges could vanish. Greystone meets every Sunday when, over candlelit dinners, they discuss literature, politics, and art. An exciting “hum” pervades Greystone events.

Cecily and Kai get a golf cart and pick up Daisy and Maya. As they ride through campus, they play music and set off fireworks. They evade campus police, and students cheer them on.

Naomi’s funeral is at Margaret’s house, which is like a French castle. Naomi didn’t want to be “trapped” in a coffin like her mother, so her ashes are in an urn. Fiona Williams, Naomi’s thesis advisor and a professor in Princeton’s English department, notes that Naomi’s thesis covered women who tried to topple unjust norms. While looking at DuPont, Maya announces that Naomi’s death wasn’t an accident, and Maya intends to find out the truth.

In Naomi’s room at Margaret’s house, Maya finds a leather notebook featuring notes about money and the Hunt investment fund. Maya then spots a question, “WHO KILLED LILA JONES?” (272). Sara Vail, a Broadway star and DuPont’s fiancée, enters. She was surprised by Maya’s speech, but she and DuPont want to give her money. Maya doesn’t want the money.

Naomi remembers being accepted into Sterling. It was the February of her sophomore year. After dancing, she went up to the terrace, where a boy she’d seen earlier, Liam, touched her back and said she had been “tapped” for Greystone. Liam is Liam Alexander. He grew up in Rye, New York. He’s a fourth-generation Princeton legacy, and he has trained with the best tennis coaches in America.

After Liam tapped Naomi, he remained distant, but Naomi felt like he was watching her. Eventually, they bonded over Asian writers in the library. They became inseparable. During the summer, Naomi worked in a West Village bookstore and Liam worked at his father’s fund downtown. They would meet up after work and go out to eat or to see classic movies.

The spring of their junior year, Liam’s younger brother, Gabe, died after he returned too early to lacrosse following a concussion. Grieving, Liam struggled with his emotions. He and Naomi were almost hurt in a car accident due to his reckless driving. Naomi told Liam she loved him, but he said he couldn’t be with her anymore. Now, during their senior year, Liam wants her back.

Lila invites Maya to see her friend’s band perform at the Terrace eating club. Maya stares at a bruise on Lila’s temple before telling her that she has to go to a lingerie party in Daisy’s room.

Daisy’s room is “bacchanalian,” with Cecily and Alex Bain surrounded by cocaine and pills. The drugs make Maya uneasy, so she meets up with Lila at Terrace, where the atmosphere is much different than Sterling. There’s a pride flag, a peace sign, and an “eclectic” group of people. In the basement, the band performs, and the guitarist, Nate Banks, attracts Maya. Lila introduces Maya to Nate and the drummer, a curvy woman named Austin.

With Liam, Naomi feels “lit up,” but when he asks what she and Amy are working on at Firestone Library, Naomi tells him it’s an essay on William Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth (1623). Amy has persuaded Fiona Williams to speak to her off the record. A teacher at Princeton for 20 years, Williams knew Lila. She reveals that Lila was gathering information on Greystone for a reporter at The Daily Princetonian. Emails between the dean of admissions and Greystone reveal that Greystone was part of a fraud where parents paid to have their children admitted to Princeton under false credentials. After Lila died, Williams felt unsafe and dropped the issue. Amy believes Greystone members could endanger her, but Naomi won’t let that happen. Naomi wants to “burn this place down” (308).

Maya develops intense feelings for Nate, but Daisy claims Nate and Cecily are a couple, and Maya sees them eating breakfast together at Sterling. Later, Cecily tells Maya that she and Nate “hooked up” in the Firestone Library stacks. She plans to bring him home for Christmas, though she’s worried her father won’t want her to be with a Black person. She invites Maya, but Maya declines.

Having sent her extra money to Naomi, Maya stays on campus and watches movies. Nate interrupts her plans by tossing snowballs at her window. Nate says he and Cecily aren’t dating. He only stayed at her parents’ house for a night. He felt like she was using him as a provocative “trophy.”

As Naomi helps Amy research her article about Greystone, she becomes paranoid and worries they’ll discover she’s trying to expose the secret club. She has a phone call with her sister, and she wants to talk to Maya about Greystone. Instead, Maya promises to attend Naomi’s BAC show.

While on a run, Naomi feels like someone is following her. She hears sounds and footsteps. She tries to convince herself it’s an animal or her imagination. She turns around and yells at a shadowy figure. Distraught, Naomi wonders if she’s imagining things.

Distracted by Nate, Maya forgets to turn in a problem set for DuPont’s class. She rushes to his room and sees Lila and DuPont, with her mouth close to his neck. Lila excuses herself, and Maya thinks DuPont wants to possess Lila. Alone, DuPont shows Maya a test she took last week. She did poorly on it, so he’ll let her retake it. He also tells her to be careful around Nate.

Via email, DuPont summons Naomi to his office. He spoke with Calum Fuller of Omnis Media, and they want to hire Naomi. She could work in the newsroom and then become an anchor. DuPont says Naomi would have a better chance at success if she chose a side and was less ambiguous. Naomi mentions Lila. DuPont’s eyes grow dark. He tells her to talk to Maya since Maya was one of the last people to see Lila alive.

As Cecily, Daisy, and Kai prepare for the Winter Formal, they drink and dance in their underwear to loud music. Marta tells them to turn it down. Cecily snaps at Marta, and Maya scolds Cecily. Maya invites Nate, and Nate tells Cecily that he and Maya are a couple. Cecily is upset and accuses Maya of “hooking up” with her ex-boyfriend behind her back. Maya apologizes, and Cecily admits she and Nate weren’t serious. If they were, her mother might have a “heart attack.”

Upset by Cecily’s insensitivity, Maya pushes Nate to go skinny dipping in Lake Carnegie. Nate knows Maya is in Greystone, and Maya suspects Cecily told him. Nate calls Greystone members “power-hungry.” He thinks they let Maya in because her race makes them look progressive. Maya claims she doesn’t have the option to reject an opportunity like Greystone.