Gossip Girl: The Carlyles Books in Order

Gossip Girl: The Carlyles hands the Upper East Side over to a new family. Instead of Blair and Serena ruling the hallways, the spotlight shifts to sixteen year old triplets Avery, Baby, and Owen Carlyle, who trade a rambling life on Nantucket for a famous Fifth Avenue address.

After their grandmother dies, the Carlyles move into the apartment once occupied by the Waldorf family. Overnight they go from beach town oddities with goats and too many pets to the newest obsession of Constance Billard and St. Jude. The locals gossip about their old money name, their bohemian artist mother, and their lack of obvious Manhattan polish.

Each sibling brings a different kind of trouble. Avery wants to step straight into her grandmother’s shoes as a perfectly turned out society hostess. She dreams of becoming the kind of girl who hosts legendary parties and lands coveted internships, and she quickly discovers that Constance already has a queen in Jack Laurent, who is not interested in sharing.

Baby, restless and blunt, misses Nantucket and has little patience for Upper East Side hypocrisy. She flirts with expulsion almost on purpose, gets tangled with boys and activism, and cares more about animals and photography than designer shoes. Owen, a star swimmer with movie star looks, slides easily into the social scene at St. Jude, but his messy love life and loyalty to his sisters keep things from ever being simple.

Across the four books the triplets try to claim their places in a landscape that usually eats new arrivals alive. They take over parties, feud with Jack and her circle, fall for the wrong people, and make enemies who are just as rich and inventive as they are. Secrets from Nantucket follow them to New York, and new scandals spill out onto Gossip Girl’s radar whether they like it or not.

The tone matches the original series – expensive settings, cutting one liners, and constantly shifting alliances – but with the added perspective of kids who did not grow up with doormen and driver’s licenses to the Hamptons. If you have finished the main Blair and Serena arc and want more Upper East Side drama without leaving the world behind, The Carlyles are the next stop.