The Social Circle by Sophie Wan

he Social Network meets Taylor Jenkins Reid in this dual-narrative novel about a group of UC Berkeley friends who found a social media company in the early 2000s, their scandalous falling out, and the 10-year anniversary exposé that forces them back together for a dramatic reunion on a private European island.

Their friendship started with a dream. It became their downfall.

When Maggie Tang arrives as a transfer-student at UC Berkeley in 2005, she has no idea how her life is about to change. In the hallway of her dingy apartment building, she meets Adam, Charles, Hari, and Priya, the friends with whom she’ll create Circle, the world’s first major social media platform. But navigating her creative ambitions alongside love and friendship isn’t so simple, and when they inevitably collide, Maggie exits Circle in dramatic fashion.

A decade later, Maggie is struggling with a new venture when she receives an invitation to celebrate Circle’s 10th anniversary on a private European island, everyone back together again. While she’s still bitter about how things ended, her company desperately needs the publicity, and deep down, Maggie can’t resist the handwritten plea at the bottom—Come, please.

Between boat rides and beach days, bit by bit the reunion begins to feel like old times. But the journalist writing a retrospective on Circle is eager for a scoop, which means they can’t tiptoe around the past forever. And when a new truth is revealed about their fall-out all those years ago, Maggie will have to decide whether to run again or fight for this second chance with the people she once loved most.