A New Cult Story Just Dropped — Little One Takes on Womanhood and Wellness (Exclusive)

In Little One, the daughter of a cult leader runs from her past — but can she run fast enough?

The latest book from Olivia Muenter, author of USA Today bestseller Such a Bad Influence, follows the story of Catharine West, who ran away from her roots in a Florida cult until an email from a prying journalist changed everything. Set to hit bookshelves on Feb. 3, 2026, Little One is a long time coming, Muenter says — and PEOPLE can exclusively reveal its cover.

“I started writing Little One nearly five years ago because I wanted to tell a story about what it feels like to be a woman in the world, told through the lens of suspense,” Muenter tells PEOPLE in an exclusive statement. “I’ve been fascinated by cults for a long time, and it felt like the best setting to dive into the bigger themes of the novel.”

“The book is largely inspired by the pressure I have felt over the years to self-improve at any cost, to restrict and contort and hurt myself in the name of beauty, youth, or thinness,” the author continues. “I know I’m not the only woman who’s felt this way. Through Catharine’s story, I wanted to explore the questions of who, exactly, makes these standards and how they manage to stick around generation after generation.”

Muenter’s hope for the novel, she says, “is that readers will finish the book and consider that maybe the things they have learned to dislike about themselves aren’t fact, but fiction.”

“From the outside, Catharine West’s childhood sounds idyllic — balmy days spent running barefoot through the gardens, plucking ripe tomatoes straight from the vine as sunlight warmed her skin. Her parents built a life that was simple and community-focused, an ethos that soon attracted others in need of a change,” the official synopsis teases.

“For a time, Catharine’s magnetic father was enough to keep the farm thriving, and temptation outside its gates. But as she grew older, the farm and family she was raised to love faded into something darker, forcing Catharine to evolve with it.”

“It’s now been a decade since Catharine abandoned the farm and has done her best to reinvent her life, until an email from a charismatic journalist interrupts her peace,” the synopsis continues. “Her first instinct is to ignore the stranger’s prying questions — whether she knew about a mysterious ‘cult’ in central Florida, whether she is the same ‘Catharine-with-an-A’ who lived there for a time. But when she realizes the journalist knows far more than he’s letting on, she reconsiders.”

If the cult leader’s daughter can stay one step ahead of the journalist, “she may be able to find the one thing she never wanted to leave behind — her sister, Linna — and make sure her own secrets remain buried too,” the synopsis adds.

“Sharp-eyed and sweltering, Little One masterfully captures the dread of facing your deepest desires, when the hunger to become your best self threatens to drown out everything else,” an official description explains. “An achingly astute look at modern womanhood and wellness culture, it tackles the enduring question: How far would you go to be good?”

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Little One hits shelves on Feb. 3, 2026 and is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.