The Counterpart: Gold Hill, Book 2

Eloise Silver has spent her thirties chasing a breakout role that never seems to arrive, trading audition rooms for bit parts in soap operas and commercial gigs. Her career is stuck in a loop of mediocrity until the cultural zeitgeist shifts in the most unexpected way: the public develops a dark, global obsession with Estella Grant, a ruthless woman who has just seized control of Melbourne’s most formidable crime syndicate through a bloody coup. When the hit series Universe Below announces a new season centered on the mob boss’s rise to power, Eloise is unexpectedly thrust into the lead role. It is the career-defining opportunity she has craved for years, but there is a catch: to truly capture the soul of such a complex, terrifying figure, Eloise feels she must understand the woman behind the headlines. As Eloise goes to extreme lengths to infiltrate Estella’s inner circle, the line between her craft and her reality begins to blur. What starts as a desperate bid for industry relevance spirals into a high-stakes, volatile dance between an ambitious actor and a dangerous queenpin. In this spicy sapphic follow-up to Only Hope, the price of fame might just be a total surrender to the darkness.