Julien never feels enough in the eyes of Miranda, and drifts from her over it. He’s seen as a bit … surface level by Katie and the others. Julien, Miranda’s husband, who fits the quintessential “good looking, buff guy” mold, who makes all the money in the relationship as well, but has the prior insider trading scheme going on.Resentment would be an appropriate word here for what Katie feels. Katie has been distancing herself for years from Miranda because of her controlling, bullying ways. Their friendship has drifted because Katie isn’t the same woman she was 20 years prior.

Katie did better academically at Oxford, however, and went on to work as a lawyer. Katie, Miranda’s best friend of 20 years, who is seen as Miranda’s “project” owing to her looks not being as appealing apparently, or as charming and outgoing as Miranda.She’s also a kleptomaniac, and somewhat of a bully to her other friends, who she views as projects, or as stepstools to elevate herself. We come to learn though that she doesn’t have a career, is unable to get pregnant, and is in a loveless marriage falling apart due, in some measure, by her spouse’s insider trading scheme. Miranda, the star of the group, the quintessential “popular party girl,” who everyone sort of defers to.The friends of at least 10 years, having largely met at Oxford in England, are: This set-up was used to such fun in Lucy Foley’s 2019 novel, The Hunting Party. One of my favorite set-ups for a book (or movie! or show!) is the classic one of a bunch of friends gathering at a remote mansion or cabin or, in this case, a Scottish lodge in the remote wilderness, and things going off the rails.

The hunting party book cover