Rosie Macalister might feel like somewhat of an outsider at Yale, but there's one place where she knows she belongs: among her group of closest friends, all of whom ride for the Equestrian Club. When Rosie, who grew up in southern Illinois as the daughter of two veterinarians, arrived in New Haven knowing no one, she --- like most other first-year riders --- was subjected to an awkward but harmless hazing ritual from older team members. But one person, Cressida Tate, took Rosie under her wing and immediately integrated Rosie into their friend group.

Rosie always has been a bit in awe of Cressida. Not only is she a brilliant rider, her father is Grayson Tate, an equestrian Olympian and the head of one of the most successful hedge funds in the country. What's more, his foundation and its support for young riders like Rosie is the reason she took up the sport in the first place and was able to join Yale's team.

"THE FORTUNE SELLER, Rachel Kapelke-Dale's third novel, is a literary thriller, but it also is an astute examination of social class and privilege."

Even if Rosie, with her hand-me-down gear and work-study job at the stables, doesn't always feel comfortable with the ease her friends have around money, Cressida never fails to make Rosie feel like she matters. So when Rosie returns to campus as a senior, after a year spent studying and working with horses in South America, she has few doubts that she'll fit right back into Cressida's life. But then she starts hearing about Annelise Tattinger, a transfer student who is simultaneously brilliant, fascinating and a talented rider. She and Rosie apparently will be sharing a room in their new off-campus house. Although Rosie is immediately intrigued by Annelise's bohemian style and penchant for reading tarot, she's also worried on some level that Annelise will usurp Cressida's affections.

However, that's hardly the only dynamic at play during Rosie's eventful senior year. She's struggling to find post-graduate employment, despite having never held a relevant internship. At the back of her mind, she's wondering if finance --- despite being the surest ticket out of the middle-class lifestyle in which she was raised --- is really the best fit for her. And there are lingering questions about Annelise. Even though she and Rosie quickly hit it off, her background and activities remain maddeningly opaque and as obscure as those tarot cards she reads. Then someone winds up dead, and everything Rosie thought she knew is thrown into question.

THE FORTUNE SELLER, Rachel Kapelke-Dale's third novel, is a literary thriller, but it also is an astute examination of social class and privilege. This is not the first time that Kapelke-Dale has explored questions of belonging and outsiders, female friendships that may or may not be genuine, or the price one pays to excel at an art…or, in this case, a sport like equestrianism. It's also, as the title suggests, an exploration of "fortune" in all of its forms --- both the vast wealth that churns beneath the surface of Cressida's world and the murky future that awaits Rosie and her fellow riders.