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Miss Oliver's School for Girls #2
No Ivory Tower: A Novel
After a tumultuous transitional year at the prestigious boarding school, Rachel Bickham now leads as the new head of Miss Oliver's School for Girls, ready to rush in an era of renewal and success. With Francis Plummer, the Clark Kent of the school, by her side, surely she can conquer anything thrown at her, perhaps even finally start a family of her own. But lately Rachel hears nothing about Francis's classes, once legend among the students... In fact, the praises have been suspiciously absent. In the meantime, financial crisis still looms over the school, and now there are rumors spreading of a big scandal concerning one of the students, Claire Nelson, who is like a daughter to Rachel. To save Claire from expulsion and preserve the school's reputation, Rachel must come up with a daring plan that may risk everything--her career, marriage, even the special bond with Claire - on the other hand, it may just save them all.
Set in the same backdrop as Davenport's debut novel, "Saving Miss Oliver's," this provocative story explores the personal lives of those within the school's small community, and the empowerment, strength and resolve it must find in the face of a surprise adversary.
Set in the same backdrop as Davenport's debut novel, "Saving Miss Oliver's," this provocative story explores the personal lives of those within the school's small community, and the empowerment, strength and resolve it must find in the face of a surprise adversary.
- GenresFiction
355 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2016
2 people are currently reading
325 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Davenport
9 books40 followersMy first full-time job, after graduating from college and then spending two years in the Navy as the Korean War wound down, was as a Wall Street banker. I chose that work because my wife and I wanted to live in NYC and go to theater as often as we could afford, and also because it was an acceptable screen for a young privileged WASP to hide behind while I wrote the Great American Novel.
By staying up late every night, I managed to produce the most self-indulgent, sophomoric novel every written – except perhaps by people who were actually still sophomores –and I mean in high school! Somehow, it managed to get the attention of an editor at Doubleday who wrote me a few pages on how I might rewrite it to make it publishable. I wasn’t sure whether he was sincere, or rewarding my wife, who worked at Doubleday, for doing her boss’s work in the afternoons while he recuperated from his lunch composed exclusively of martinis. At any rate, I started to rewrite, and soon found I could not. In the time it took to compose the novel, I had outgrown its premise entirely. So I buried the manuscript under the shirts in my bottom bureau drawer and decided to take some time off from my writing to catch up on my sleep.
But I couldn’t sleep. Because now, without the novel to think about, I thought about how ardently I didn’t want to get up in the morning and spend the whole day pretending to be a banker. I would have been less troubled if my act were not successful, but everyone at the bank, including several enthusiastic mentors, thought I had chosen my career. I was amazed that no one caught me out. I would have confessed: this is not me, but that didn’t happen, and I was soon promoted to the next rung up on the young executive’s ladder. My parents were delighted and relieved. Their son was climbing upwards along an acceptable path. But my college friends, when I told them I was a banker, either laughed, thinking I was joking, or looked concerned. Soon I’d own a house in the suburbs, take the train to the City every morning, reading the Wall Street Journal, like a character in a story by John Cheever. A perfectly fine life for some, but not for me. I felt trapped, powerless, parading through life in someone else’s identity, and vaguely suicidal. Inside New York’s tall buildings, I didn’t go near the windows.
I started perusing employment advertising in The New York Times, and happened upon one for a teacher of English and coach of football, basketball and track at a boarding school. I loved literature. I loved sports. So I applied. The position had come open too close to the beginning of the academic year for the school to have time to interview more than a very few candidates. That’s why I got the job. It was one of the luckiest days of my life.
For the next thirty years, except for a short spate of free-lance journalism in which I was lucky enough to place articles in the New York Times Magazine about conservation and an article in The Saturday Review on how African-American boys and girls were faring in elite private schools, I didn’t write. I didn’t have the emotional energy left over, let alone the time, to make up characters and vicariously live their lives, as a novelist must. I found that purveying to the still supple hearts of teenagers my passion for literature was all the satisfaction I needed–which is not to say that it was easy, nor that I was always successful. I loved the idiosyncratic cultures in which I worked and which I ultimately led as Head of School. It was easy to always try to do one’s best. How much success or failure was mine was for others to say, but I never had to ask, nor did my colleagues, Why am I doing this?
And besides, I never had to wear a suit!
I spent three years teaching English and coaching sports at Trinity-Pawling School, an all-boys boarding school in Pawling, NY; then thirteen years doing the same work at Kingswood-Oxford School, in West Hartford, CT, where I was privileged to have br
By staying up late every night, I managed to produce the most self-indulgent, sophomoric novel every written – except perhaps by people who were actually still sophomores –and I mean in high school! Somehow, it managed to get the attention of an editor at Doubleday who wrote me a few pages on how I might rewrite it to make it publishable. I wasn’t sure whether he was sincere, or rewarding my wife, who worked at Doubleday, for doing her boss’s work in the afternoons while he recuperated from his lunch composed exclusively of martinis. At any rate, I started to rewrite, and soon found I could not. In the time it took to compose the novel, I had outgrown its premise entirely. So I buried the manuscript under the shirts in my bottom bureau drawer and decided to take some time off from my writing to catch up on my sleep.
But I couldn’t sleep. Because now, without the novel to think about, I thought about how ardently I didn’t want to get up in the morning and spend the whole day pretending to be a banker. I would have been less troubled if my act were not successful, but everyone at the bank, including several enthusiastic mentors, thought I had chosen my career. I was amazed that no one caught me out. I would have confessed: this is not me, but that didn’t happen, and I was soon promoted to the next rung up on the young executive’s ladder. My parents were delighted and relieved. Their son was climbing upwards along an acceptable path. But my college friends, when I told them I was a banker, either laughed, thinking I was joking, or looked concerned. Soon I’d own a house in the suburbs, take the train to the City every morning, reading the Wall Street Journal, like a character in a story by John Cheever. A perfectly fine life for some, but not for me. I felt trapped, powerless, parading through life in someone else’s identity, and vaguely suicidal. Inside New York’s tall buildings, I didn’t go near the windows.
I started perusing employment advertising in The New York Times, and happened upon one for a teacher of English and coach of football, basketball and track at a boarding school. I loved literature. I loved sports. So I applied. The position had come open too close to the beginning of the academic year for the school to have time to interview more than a very few candidates. That’s why I got the job. It was one of the luckiest days of my life.
For the next thirty years, except for a short spate of free-lance journalism in which I was lucky enough to place articles in the New York Times Magazine about conservation and an article in The Saturday Review on how African-American boys and girls were faring in elite private schools, I didn’t write. I didn’t have the emotional energy left over, let alone the time, to make up characters and vicariously live their lives, as a novelist must. I found that purveying to the still supple hearts of teenagers my passion for literature was all the satisfaction I needed–which is not to say that it was easy, nor that I was always successful. I loved the idiosyncratic cultures in which I worked and which I ultimately led as Head of School. It was easy to always try to do one’s best. How much success or failure was mine was for others to say, but I never had to ask, nor did my colleagues, Why am I doing this?
And besides, I never had to wear a suit!
I spent three years teaching English and coaching sports at Trinity-Pawling School, an all-boys boarding school in Pawling, NY; then thirteen years doing the same work at Kingswood-Oxford School, in West Hartford, CT, where I was privileged to have br
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 28, 2016
No Ivory Towers is about a community in crisis and the ingenious efforts a first-time headmistress takes to save a school and its reputation. The novel swirls with troubles, each one threatening the existence of Miss Oliver’s, a beloved school for girls. Having taught and been a dorm head in a private school, I can attest that the world the author evokes rings true. But the school is also a microcosm of any community, where just beneath the surface lies subterfuge, egos and human drama that threaten the very fabric of the community in which they occur. Miss Oliver’s School for Girls is, we learn, no ivory tower.
Scandal erupts when a popular, conservative talk show host and a student’s father demands the expulsion of his daughter’s roommate for having slept with a teacher at a previous school. His very public muck raking threatens to founder the school’s fundraising drive to raise nearly half a million dollars by school-year’s end to forestall the insolvency of the school. Instead of taking the easy way out by expelling the student, the headmistress risks her job by taking a stand for the brilliant art student and for what is right, against the advice of the board and master teachers. As a result, a cabal of parents and ex-board members threaten to unseat the headmistress. And unraveling before her eyes is the master teacher, iconic at the school, who was supposed to be her right-hand man. The different plot lines swirl like angry storm clouds over the school that only the feisty headmistress can fight through.
Throughout the novel, we are treated to lovely prose and rich descriptions. Over the course of the school year, as we walk in the shoes of so many at the school, we can’t help but fall in love with the students, teachers and headmistress who demonstrate why the school is remarkable. In the end, there is a graduation for so many: for the seniors moving into their new lives, for a beloved teacher who must find a new way, for a father who must deal with the addictions that have plagued him and for a headmistress who, at the end of her inaugural year, has risked, won and established herself as a leader. We feel joyful for their accomplishments and sad that, in their leaving, the community will never be quite the same. Because we, as readers, have been charmed by these ivory towers.
Scandal erupts when a popular, conservative talk show host and a student’s father demands the expulsion of his daughter’s roommate for having slept with a teacher at a previous school. His very public muck raking threatens to founder the school’s fundraising drive to raise nearly half a million dollars by school-year’s end to forestall the insolvency of the school. Instead of taking the easy way out by expelling the student, the headmistress risks her job by taking a stand for the brilliant art student and for what is right, against the advice of the board and master teachers. As a result, a cabal of parents and ex-board members threaten to unseat the headmistress. And unraveling before her eyes is the master teacher, iconic at the school, who was supposed to be her right-hand man. The different plot lines swirl like angry storm clouds over the school that only the feisty headmistress can fight through.
Throughout the novel, we are treated to lovely prose and rich descriptions. Over the course of the school year, as we walk in the shoes of so many at the school, we can’t help but fall in love with the students, teachers and headmistress who demonstrate why the school is remarkable. In the end, there is a graduation for so many: for the seniors moving into their new lives, for a beloved teacher who must find a new way, for a father who must deal with the addictions that have plagued him and for a headmistress who, at the end of her inaugural year, has risked, won and established herself as a leader. We feel joyful for their accomplishments and sad that, in their leaving, the community will never be quite the same. Because we, as readers, have been charmed by these ivory towers.
August 7, 2019
As someone who has worked in education my entire career, I was naturally drawn to the title of Stephen Davenport’s second novel, No Ivory Tower. The setting for the book is a prestigious boarding school for girls in Connecticut: Miss Oliver’s School for Girls. (Ironically, this bastion of tradition and privilege is located on the site of a former Pequot Indian settlement.)
Although the book is set in 1992, it feels contemporary and relevant to the present time, which is a testament to Davenport’s experience and fundamental understanding of education and those who have dedicated their careers to it.
The novel opens with the first faculty meeting of the academic year after long-time, beloved headmistress Marjorie Boyd had been dismissed for poor management of the school’s finances and her replacement, Fred Kindler, had also been dismissed for suggesting that they solve the fiscal crisis by admitting boys.
I was immediately engaged in the story. What better way to introduce the central conflict of a novel set at a boarding school than with a faculty meeting, where we can observe first-hand the tenuous alliances, the petty jealousies, and, yes, even the hope that with a new, young leader the school’s future will be ensured?
The central conflict of No Ivory Tower is emblematic of education as a whole: the desire to maintain and protect tradition versus the need for change to ensure survival. This conflict is developed through a series of skillfully interwoven dichotomous perspectives: the star teacher, “as powerful and larger than life as Superman” and the enforcer, who “would actually lie down on the floor and deliver a lecture about transitive and intransitive verbs” when one of the girls confused lay and lie; the father whose attempts to hold onto his shaky connection to his daughter are foolhardy at best and the distant father who is blind to his daughter’s need for him; the elderly alumna on a crusade to ruin the new, young head of school and the well-known alumna who thwarts the attack.
Davenport’s choice of a third-person omniscient narrator is well-suited to providing the multiple shifting perspectives of these characters caught up in the struggle for Miss Oliver’s School for Girls, as well as what is at stake for each of them. I particularly appreciated the fact that this is the narrative stance of the good teacher, the voice we trust to tell us the truth when he says, Let me tell you what happened.
As much as I enjoyed the narrative stance, the adroit rendering of multiple storylines, the accomplished prose style, and the sly touches of humor, the highlight of No Ivory Tower for me was the character of Francis Plummer. Francis is the star teacher who may be losing his teaching mojo. I thought about Francis between reading sessions, and I thought about him long after I had closed the book on the final chapter. Francis stole my heart, and I want to know that he will be all right. I can think of no higher praise for a novel than that.
Although the book is set in 1992, it feels contemporary and relevant to the present time, which is a testament to Davenport’s experience and fundamental understanding of education and those who have dedicated their careers to it.
The novel opens with the first faculty meeting of the academic year after long-time, beloved headmistress Marjorie Boyd had been dismissed for poor management of the school’s finances and her replacement, Fred Kindler, had also been dismissed for suggesting that they solve the fiscal crisis by admitting boys.
I was immediately engaged in the story. What better way to introduce the central conflict of a novel set at a boarding school than with a faculty meeting, where we can observe first-hand the tenuous alliances, the petty jealousies, and, yes, even the hope that with a new, young leader the school’s future will be ensured?
The central conflict of No Ivory Tower is emblematic of education as a whole: the desire to maintain and protect tradition versus the need for change to ensure survival. This conflict is developed through a series of skillfully interwoven dichotomous perspectives: the star teacher, “as powerful and larger than life as Superman” and the enforcer, who “would actually lie down on the floor and deliver a lecture about transitive and intransitive verbs” when one of the girls confused lay and lie; the father whose attempts to hold onto his shaky connection to his daughter are foolhardy at best and the distant father who is blind to his daughter’s need for him; the elderly alumna on a crusade to ruin the new, young head of school and the well-known alumna who thwarts the attack.
Davenport’s choice of a third-person omniscient narrator is well-suited to providing the multiple shifting perspectives of these characters caught up in the struggle for Miss Oliver’s School for Girls, as well as what is at stake for each of them. I particularly appreciated the fact that this is the narrative stance of the good teacher, the voice we trust to tell us the truth when he says, Let me tell you what happened.
As much as I enjoyed the narrative stance, the adroit rendering of multiple storylines, the accomplished prose style, and the sly touches of humor, the highlight of No Ivory Tower for me was the character of Francis Plummer. Francis is the star teacher who may be losing his teaching mojo. I thought about Francis between reading sessions, and I thought about him long after I had closed the book on the final chapter. Francis stole my heart, and I want to know that he will be all right. I can think of no higher praise for a novel than that.
April 5, 2019
A few years ago I came across what I thought was a standalone novel, "Saving Miss Oliver's" by Stephen Davenport. It was a good book, well-written about life and politics at a girl's prep school in Connecticut. I didn't think much more about it til I was offered on Amazon Vine a reader's copy of Davenport's second novel, "No Ivory Tower". It's the second in the "Miss Oliver's" series. Unfortunately, I didn't think the second book was nearly as good as the first.
The years have gone forward and Rachel Bickham has become the new Head of School at Miss Oliver's. Rachel is African-American which does not seem to be an issue with the otherwise mostly white staff and student body. No, the problem in the book is a father who is a Rush Limbaugh-like radio personality who has taken it on himself to denounce the supposedly decadent girls' school because one of the students - who is actually 19 and probably should be in college - has taken an extra year at the school to produce art to get into Rhode Island School of Design. Claire - the student - had transferred to Miss Oliver's the year previous after having been kicked out of her school for having an affair with a male teacher. Rachel Bickham and the school's Board and teachers decide to defend Claire from the attacks from the radio host. Here's where the stupidity comes in. Claire does not seem to be worth defending. She doesn't seem worth putting the school's reputation and fund-raising on the line. As written, Claire comes across as a brat, a whinging brat, who'd have been better off out of the school.
Much of the book's plot is along the line of "what the hell"? Most of the characters are notable in the stupidity of how they're handling the "situation" and makes it easy for this reader not to care what happens to them. This is different from Davenport's first book, which received raves from people who knew about prep schools. (I have a fair amount of experience with private day schools, which I guess are different from boarding schools.).
Anyway, "No Ivory Tower" is not a great book. BUT, it's also worth reading all the reviews on Goodreads and Amazon as other readers will have different opinions.
The years have gone forward and Rachel Bickham has become the new Head of School at Miss Oliver's. Rachel is African-American which does not seem to be an issue with the otherwise mostly white staff and student body. No, the problem in the book is a father who is a Rush Limbaugh-like radio personality who has taken it on himself to denounce the supposedly decadent girls' school because one of the students - who is actually 19 and probably should be in college - has taken an extra year at the school to produce art to get into Rhode Island School of Design. Claire - the student - had transferred to Miss Oliver's the year previous after having been kicked out of her school for having an affair with a male teacher. Rachel Bickham and the school's Board and teachers decide to defend Claire from the attacks from the radio host. Here's where the stupidity comes in. Claire does not seem to be worth defending. She doesn't seem worth putting the school's reputation and fund-raising on the line. As written, Claire comes across as a brat, a whinging brat, who'd have been better off out of the school.
Much of the book's plot is along the line of "what the hell"? Most of the characters are notable in the stupidity of how they're handling the "situation" and makes it easy for this reader not to care what happens to them. This is different from Davenport's first book, which received raves from people who knew about prep schools. (I have a fair amount of experience with private day schools, which I guess are different from boarding schools.).
Anyway, "No Ivory Tower" is not a great book. BUT, it's also worth reading all the reviews on Goodreads and Amazon as other readers will have different opinions.
June 18, 2019
This book didn’t pass my 100-page rule whereby if I am not thoroughly engrossed in a book by page 100, I stop wasting time on it. In this case I only made it to page 67, and since the first 23 pages were missing from my advance review copy, that means I could only take 44 pages of it.
The characters just didn’t grab me, for one thing. Rachel Bickham, the new Head of Miss Oliver’s School for Girls, is all worked up after finding out that the school has admitted a student who left her previous school after sleeping with a teacher. Rachel is also having marital issues of her own, trying to maintain a relationship with her husband when they only can see each other on weekends.
The situation just did not grab me, and I was already finding Rachel tiresome, so I gave it up. Of course, your mileage may vary.
Thank you to West Margin Press for providing an Advanced Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.
The characters just didn’t grab me, for one thing. Rachel Bickham, the new Head of Miss Oliver’s School for Girls, is all worked up after finding out that the school has admitted a student who left her previous school after sleeping with a teacher. Rachel is also having marital issues of her own, trying to maintain a relationship with her husband when they only can see each other on weekends.
The situation just did not grab me, and I was already finding Rachel tiresome, so I gave it up. Of course, your mileage may vary.
Thank you to West Margin Press for providing an Advanced Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.
April 4, 2024
This is a well written book that just didn't interest me very much. It is like a soap opera at an advanced all girls high school, mainly concerning the staff and the schools problems rather than the students. It takes forever to tell the story, but it is touching in the end.
October 22, 2020
Two stars for the whatever-the-opposite-of-compelling-is storyline and boring, one-dimensional characters. Docked a star for the slut shaming. Save your time.
March 17, 2016
In a fast paced time like the one we live in, it is refreshing to sit down and read about the slow paced world of a private girls school in New England. A place where the school is as much a character in the book as it's students and faculty.
Welcome to Miss Oliver's School for Girls. Rachel, the newly appointed head mistress wants to get everything back on track after the previous year's disaster. She has the deficit to fix, a Board that already wants her fired, and a teacher that isn't the teacher he used to be. Francis Plummer was supposed to become the first Dean of Academics, until bad timing sets him on a downward spiral just as he is trying to fix a failed marriage. Claire wants her father to be a father but how is she supposed to get his attention when he lives is London? That's where Mitch Michaels comes in. He is the father of Claire's friend Amy and as a radio talk show host he has an audience that hangs on his every word. When he feels jaded everyone knows it, and he wants his listeners to know how much he dislikes his daughter's school. The cast of characters is broad but none is as influential to this beautiful story as the campus itself. The copper beech tree and the trail to the river that is the backdrop of so many poignant scenes, stand alone as not only scenery but a major character. Every season brings a new form, a new way of looking at them. It made me stop and look around quite a few times and wonder how differently things would seem without the trees surrounding me.
At first, this was a hard book for me to read, I kept looking for the action, wondering who I should be rooting for, and believe me there are times when you feel angry for the situation at hand, but then I sat back and realized that the beauty of the story is the action. You root for everyone and realize that you are allowed to sit back and enjoy the scenery. This is not a shut your brain off guilty pleasure read, this makes you think and appreciate the people who have made an impact on your life. I think the tag line says it best " For everyone who has ever loved a school." I felt that love of school before, and this book took me right back there. This is the second book in a trilogy and I am looking forward to the next lesson I learn at Miss Oliver's.
Welcome to Miss Oliver's School for Girls. Rachel, the newly appointed head mistress wants to get everything back on track after the previous year's disaster. She has the deficit to fix, a Board that already wants her fired, and a teacher that isn't the teacher he used to be. Francis Plummer was supposed to become the first Dean of Academics, until bad timing sets him on a downward spiral just as he is trying to fix a failed marriage. Claire wants her father to be a father but how is she supposed to get his attention when he lives is London? That's where Mitch Michaels comes in. He is the father of Claire's friend Amy and as a radio talk show host he has an audience that hangs on his every word. When he feels jaded everyone knows it, and he wants his listeners to know how much he dislikes his daughter's school. The cast of characters is broad but none is as influential to this beautiful story as the campus itself. The copper beech tree and the trail to the river that is the backdrop of so many poignant scenes, stand alone as not only scenery but a major character. Every season brings a new form, a new way of looking at them. It made me stop and look around quite a few times and wonder how differently things would seem without the trees surrounding me.
At first, this was a hard book for me to read, I kept looking for the action, wondering who I should be rooting for, and believe me there are times when you feel angry for the situation at hand, but then I sat back and realized that the beauty of the story is the action. You root for everyone and realize that you are allowed to sit back and enjoy the scenery. This is not a shut your brain off guilty pleasure read, this makes you think and appreciate the people who have made an impact on your life. I think the tag line says it best " For everyone who has ever loved a school." I felt that love of school before, and this book took me right back there. This is the second book in a trilogy and I am looking forward to the next lesson I learn at Miss Oliver's.
July 6, 2016
This was an interesting continuation of the Miss Oliver’s series, after the first, “Saving Miss Oliver’s.” If you work at an independent school, or ever have, you will enjoy this series. I understand there is another on its way.
This book picks up where the last ended, with Rachel Bickham, a young black woman who had been a teacher at Miss Oliver’s now the Head of School. She is inexperienced, and she relies upon the advice of her board chair, an elderly man who has had brighter days in his past. When the school is accused of taking on a student with past indiscretions for money, the school rallies and the resulting battle escalates to a point where heads could roll. At the same time, Rachel must deal with personal issues as well as personnel issues. The plot rings true for most of the book, but the ending is a little bit too saccharine to be believable.
This book picks up where the last ended, with Rachel Bickham, a young black woman who had been a teacher at Miss Oliver’s now the Head of School. She is inexperienced, and she relies upon the advice of her board chair, an elderly man who has had brighter days in his past. When the school is accused of taking on a student with past indiscretions for money, the school rallies and the resulting battle escalates to a point where heads could roll. At the same time, Rachel must deal with personal issues as well as personnel issues. The plot rings true for most of the book, but the ending is a little bit too saccharine to be believable.
November 27, 2019
I was intrigued by this book as I attended an all girl high school, but not a boarding school. I am a big fan of single sex education for high school. To get background, I did read the first book in this series (Saving Miss Oliver’s). I liked this one slightly more than the first novel. However, I could never understand why Francis Plummer was so beloved. In both books, he was a meek, washed-up teacher. I liked the new head of school, but she wasn’t as forceful as she should have been. The sub story about Claire and her art, along with Amy’s father and his radio show was interesting, but I thought it got lost in the whole novel. All in all, the book was a solid 3 stars, but I don’t think it will have a wide appeal unless you are an educator. I received a copy via Book Movement giveaway, but the opinion provided here is entirely my own.
#NoIvoryTower StephenDavenport
#NoIvoryTower StephenDavenport
April 12, 2016
This is a well written book. Rachel is a strong main character. She is the headmistress of an elite girls boarding school. The story takes us through some of the trials and tribulations that position encounters. It's an interesting story but I just couldn't get into it. I found it tedious at times. And I thought that parts of it were disjointed. I was given the opportunity to read this book by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review. I wish that review could be more positive. I don't know if I will recommend it.
January 26, 2021
As a student of public schools and later a teacher in that world, I had no real expectations when I began reading this novel set in a private school. What an eye-opener! This private school is troubled on so many levels, not the least of which is a new administrator trying to get her feet on the ground and fill the positions so necessary to maintaining order in this academic world. I enjoyed the book more than I had expected to.
I received my copy free in a giveaway by the author.
I received my copy free in a giveaway by the author.
December 17, 2016
well done. You will like this if you like tales of life in the microcosm of an independent school- but it's really about larger issues of change in a closed community. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Dsvenport has captured the situation quite well. I'm looking forward to whatever he writes next.
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September 9, 2016A enjoyable story about the vagaries of the occupants of a girls' boarding school. There were some interesting characters and good descriptive interactions. The timeline was a bit difficult to follow at times but the conclusion was good.
April 23, 2016
Ok but no desire to read any more of the series
September 17, 2023
Really complex novel that I'm still working through in my head. I'll let you know when I do. :)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews