Madam

by Phoebe Wynne

A darkly feminist, modern gothic tale pitched against a haunting backdrop, and populated by an electrifying cast of heroines

For 150 years, high above rocky Scottish cliffs, Caldonbrae Hall has sat untouched, a beacon of excellence in an old ancestral castle. A boarding school for girls, it promises that the young women lucky enough to be admitted will emerge “resilient and ready to serve society.”

Into its illustrious midst steps Rose Christie: a 26-year-old Classics teacher, Caldonbrae’s new head of the department, and the first hire for the school in over a decade. At first, Rose is overwhelmed to be invited into this institution, whose prestige is unrivaled. But she quickly discovers that behind the school’s elitist veneer lies an impenetrable, starkly traditional culture that she struggles to reconcile with her modernist beliefs—not to mention her commitment to educating “girls for the future.”

It also doesn’t take long for Rose to suspect that there’s more to the secret circumstances surrounding the abrupt departure of her predecessor—a woman whose ghost lingers everywhere—than anyone is willing to let on. In her search for this mysterious former teacher, Rose instead uncovers the darkness that beats at the heart of Caldonbrae, forcing her to confront the true extent of the school’s nefarious purpose, and her own role in perpetuating it.

A darkly feminist tale pitched against a haunting backdrop, and populated by an electrifying cast of heroines, Madam will keep readers engrossed until the breathtaking conclusion.

Genres: Dark Academia, Fiction, Mystery, Gothic, Historical Fiction, Thriller, Horror

352 pages, Hardcover

First published February 18, 2021

About the author

Phoebe Wynne studied Classics at Royal Holloway, University of London and Education at King’s College, London. She worked in education for eight years, teaching Classics in the south of England as well as English Language and Literature in Paris, France. Phoebe left the classroom to focus on her writing; she went on to hone her craft in writing classes in Los Angeles and in London.

Phoebe has dual British and French nationality and spends her time between England and France. ‘MADAM’ is her debut novel.

Reviews

[MarilynW · Rating 2 out of 5]

Madam by Phoebe Wynne

Greek mythology is one of the many overriding themes of this story. The part where women are so brutalized and villainized that they are considered heroic for scorching their world and others with their own reign of revenge, brutality, violence, and death, is the part that Rose, a new Classics teacher at the celebrated Caldonbrae Hall, is most thrilled to teach to her female students. Rose seems to esteem and worship the women of mythology who murder others, including their own children. These lessons are taught by her in the name of feminism and glorifying empowered women, although this type of thinking is very at odds with the aims of the school. 

I am not a fan of abrasive Rose. I consider her to be naïve, lacking in common sense, and so unable to read a room that she'll yell and shriek at a room full of people who have threatened her and her loved ones with the most grievous harm. She is at times overly passive and at other times, overly hysterical. She has reasons to be hysterical but she seems to have no survival instinct to show her when she needs to hold her tongue and lash out at a more safe and appropriate time. She does this often, with no chance of making progress towards getting herself out of her dangerous situation. I was rolling my eyes at her right along with her disrespectful students. There are very few characters in this story who are likable and the story is so dark and some of the scenes so disgusting that it was hard to keep reading/listening to the story. 

Caldonbrae Hall is more than a girl's school. It's a wicked, all powerful, corrupt institution that pushes archaic, cruel existences onto the girls in it's grasp. There is more than a hint of Jane Eyre in this story but it's so heavy handed, and Rose is so dull minded in her actions and reactions to the situation, that the comparison fades. The story contains brainwashing, child abuse, gaslighting, grooming, pedophilia, sexual harassment, and so much more. It was all too much for me.

Publication: May 18, 2021

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for this ARC. 

[Debra - can't post any comments on site today grrr · Rating 1 out of 5]

Over and out..

I am doing something very unusual for me. I am putting this book down. I never dnf a book - you have a higher probability of seeing a unicorn in the wild than seeing me put down a book - until today.

I have been applauding other reviewers for deciding not to finish, when a book does not work for then and continued to force myself to read a book I was not enjoying....until today

I wanted really badly to like this book. I was intrigued by the synopsis and high hopes for the book. Unfortunately it was not the book for me. I found I was only mildly interested in the beginning but read until the 30% mark, but it never got better for me. I made the decision to put the book down. Many are enjoying this book and so I encourage all to give this book a chance as it might be for them.

Sadly, this was not a good fit for me. Best of luck to the Author.

[Michael David (on hiatus) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Caldonbrae Hall is an all-girls boarding school in Scotland. It has been a prominent school for over 150 years. 26-year old Rose Christie is the newest teacher they’ve had in years, and also the youngest. She is hired on as a Classics teacher with a Latin focus. As excited as she is for this new journey, she quickly realizes that not all is as great as it seems.

The students she teaches treat with her with disrespect, the Headmaster barely gives her the time of day, and the rest of the staff aren’t very supportive.

Beyond that, there is uncomfortable tension in the air as Rose realizes that students are to follow the rules, rituals, and beliefs of Caldonbrae Hall to a tee...and so is the rest of the staff. There will be serious consequences otherwise.

The beliefs are utterly ridiculous, not to mention aged, in this bizarre tale that moves at a snail’s pace. It was infuriating to see how much Rose put up with, and what kinds of things she saw...while still staying at the boarding school. She’s a good person with little backbone for the majority of the book, but the behavior was mind-boggling.

Additionally, the book takes place in 1992, but you’d almost never know it. It seems more fitting in a previous CENTURY, given the way everyone talks and the ideas and beliefs the school has for the students. It’s jaunting to hear one character mention movies such as Batman Returns and The Silence of The Lambs, because other than that, it feels like the 1900’s.

Although slow from beginning to end, I was semi-interested during the first 1/3 of the book...wondering where it would go or if anything exciting would happen. Things happen alright, but they’re not exciting, entertaining, or delightful to read about. The suspense and intrigue were seriously lacking. There is also an overabundance of Greek Mythology discussed in the book, and I didn’t see how that tied into the story...although admittedly, I did skim some of those sections.

While this one sounded intriguing and will undoubtedly be enjoyed by some readers, I am not one of them.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book will be published on: 5/18/21.

Review also posted at: https://bonkersforthebooks.wordpress.com

[Jayme · Rating 2 out of 5]

For 150 years Caldonbrae Hall (called Hope by the staff) has been an all girls boarding school, preparing young ladies to emerge “resilient and ready to serve society”.

Or at least-ready to serve a certain component of society.

All the male teachers are called Sir, and all of the female teachers will be addressed as “Madam”.

You will “buy into” their traditions or you will pay the price. That refers to both the students and the staff.

So, when a new Head of Department is needed for “Classics” the headmaster chooses a young teacher named Rose-a young lady he feels can be indoctrinated into their VERY traditional belief system.

The year is 1993.
But you would think this is taking place in the 1800’s.

This book will probably be polarizing.
Love it or Hate It.

I fall in the second half unfortunately.
While the concept is intriguing, the execution falls flat.

We spend A LOT of time in the classroom learning
A LOT of Mythology from Rose, and are privy to her student’s juvenile dialogue and impolite behavior as things spiral out of control for both teacher and students. (Yawn)

The school manages to be similar to a CULT-without the charismatic leader or religious beliefs.

I don’t particularly enjoy stories about CULTS or Mythology so I was as doomed as the Greek Goddesses told about within these pages.
But, if those subjects entice you, perhaps this book will too!

Not one that I will be recommending, although I am sure it will find its audience.
2.5 ⭐️

Thank You to the Publisher for my gifted copy. It was my pleasure to provide a candid review!
Available May, 18, 2021.

[megs_bookrack · Rating 2 out of 5]

When 26-year old, Rose Christie, gets hired to teach Classics at the illustrious, Caldonbrae Hall, she's understandably nervous about the placement.

Caldonbrae, a traditional boarding school for girls, is a far cry from the public schools Rose has taught in previously. Indeed, from the start, she's out of her element.



Her trepidation doesn't improve as classes begin. The young ladies treat her with contempt and an overall lack of respect.

She is astounded that such well-groomed girls would think it's okay to treat one of their teachers in such a way.



But it isn't even just the girls. Other teachers and staff barely give her the time of day. She's like an annoying gnat they all seem to want to swat away.

The longer Rose is there, the more confounding the whole experience seems to be.



As Rose slowly, and I do mean slowly, begins to put the pieces of the puzzle together, the shocking truth of Calonbrae Hall is revealed.

Y'all, the premise of this book had such promise. I wanted to love it and fully expected that I would. Unfortunately, it fell so flat.



The atmosphere was good. It did feel gothic, like the school was trapped in time.

Set on the cliffs of Scotland, it was cold and remote. While Rose was there, it felt like she was very far removed from the rest of the world; from anyone who could help her.



I was intensely interested in the beginning, for probably the first 20%, and I felt the last 15% was engaging as well. However everything in between was like watching paint dry.

There were so many details; so many. Yet, I just kept waiting and waiting for something to happen and it was like, the payoff never came.



I liked the ideas behind where the author was going, but the execution was a miss for me. I feel like it could have been edited down. Perhaps if it had been more concise, it could have been more impactful.

In other words, in this case, it's not the content, but how that content was presented that was the issue for me.



Additionally, I do think it is important to note that I listened to the audiobook. I think the narrator did a good job. Frankly, if I had read a hard copy, I may have been even more displeased with it.

With this being said, just because it didn't necessarily work for me, doesn't mean it won't work for you. If the synopsis sounds interesting to you, absolutely give it a go!



Thank you so much to the publisher, Macmillan Audio, for providing me with the opportunity to listen to this audiobook. I do appreciate it very much!

[Ceecee · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

In 1992 Rose Christie is employed at Calonbrae Hall, a boarding school in Scotland for girls of wealthy and influential families. She is to be the new Head of Classics, a step up the career ladder and a good promotion as she’s only in her mid twenties. She soon learns the school is not the place she thought or hoped it might be as they try to control her in various ways as they churn out girls more suited to the social ideas of the nineteenth century than the late twentieth.

I had high hopes of this book as the premise is promising but it soon begins to feel totally off kilter and not in a good way. It’s a boiling cauldron of weird, of ideas that are outmoded, of characters that are awful with little development that just feel like cardboard cutouts the girls are being trained to be. Every feminist bone in my body screams no at this book and there are a couple of instances that make me recoil in revulsion and horror though none of it has any semblance of authenticity. The book is set in the 1990’s not the 1890’s and it makes the whole thing too hard to accept. The dialogue is stilted, clunky, false and feels fake. I feel no suspense, little menace or threat as the blurb suggests and the only Gothic is the building. Th pace is slow, the plot is unbelievable, I want to scream at Rose and tell her to leave, right now and not look back. She does but way too late.

Stepford Daughters for wives? Nooooo. I suppose the fact the girls call female teachers Madam should have warned me as I once worked briefly in a school where that was the form of address. Trust me, hormonal teens can get an awful lot of meaning into the word! Shudder. I think it’s clear I did not enjoy this one at all although others may like it better than I do.

With thanks to NetGalley and apologies to Quercus and the author that I could not relate to the book. I received this as an arc in return for an honest review.

[Anna Klein · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus for the digital ARC of this book!

Trigger warning: paedophilia, child abuse, sexual harassment

God, this was hard to get through. I was very willing to give this a fair chance, would even say I was excited for it, but the longer I read the worse this got. Some of my issues with it, in no particular order:

-The racism and tokenisation of people of colour, and tied to that, the main character Rose's white-saviour attitude. The diverse representation in this book consists of one black family mentioned in passing at an Open Day scene (the main character uses that moment to let us know how upset she is that there are no people of colour at her school), and a group of "Asian girls" that study at the school. These girls are said to be Japanese on a couple occasions, the only reason for it being that the author wants to show us a scene where these girls are being trained as Geishas. The main character then proceeds to act scandalised, because obviously the author did not research Japanese culture enough to learn that the association Geisha = prostitute is demonising, belittling and generally rooted in racism. Other than that, the Japanese student's don't really talk, and when they do it's in stereotypical broken English, because how else could we tell that they're foreign? Oh, yes, we can also tell because their eyes are described as being "almond-shaped" and their hair silky, straight and black. Of course. Additionally, the main character spends the longest time making observations (to herself and other teachers in her school) that maybe more students of colour should be recruited, that she is so much better than the others for thinking people of colour are people too! Fuck that.

-The plot was predictable, particularly that first prologue. Like, from 20% onwards I knew how everything would end. It is also a very weird plot. A lot of elements that look like they should be relevant are not as relevant as they should be, and they are picked back up at random points in the novel, mostly towards the end probably because the writer realised she had to resolve things or else. It is a very slow moving plot and there is no reason for that, because there is no atmospheric descriptions, no literary writing style that justifies it, nothing like that. Just scenes and scenes of class teaching, followed by arguments with whatever character we need to know, followed by Rose's sense of dread when she's on her own. Rinse and repeat.

-Speaking of plot: specific mention to those two scenes of paedophilia and general fucked up shit. I did not flag this as spoilers because if you're considering reading this book, you should know this happens. And there was no need. They were included just for the shock factor. It was awful and horrible especially because there was no further point to it other than showing how bad this school is, which the author could have done in a myriad of other ways. The main character acted equally scared when she saw a student with her hair all shaved off, than when she saw teachers making students pleasure an old man sexually. This is not a horror novel and even if it was, no horror novel should include this type of stuff unless it's for a very, very good reason. If you're thinking of writing a book: Never do this, please.

-The characters. Other than the main character, Rose, who moves to this school to teach, and three of her fifteen-year-old students, all the other characters are absolutely forgettable. I didn't realise that Mrs St Johns and Vivien were the same person until I was at the 96% mark. Or were they? Even after finishing the book, I am not sure. No characters are developed except for Rose, and she gets worse and worse as the novel goes on. So much so, that she has no role in the novel's climax. She does nothing but watch and leave. It is the three students she likes the most that do everything that triggers the end of the plot. Imagine! She doesn't hold back when it comes to calling out the abuse she witnesses, but none of that results in any meaningful consequences or victories other than the school's higher-ups being threatening to her and then not actually carrying out any punishment, letting her off the hook. The stakes are so low because there are no consequences to anything, so by the end I just did not care.

-The incorporation of Classics into the novel. Why Classics? One could find female role models for the young students in any discipline, seriously. The mythology fragments provide good interludes to the main plot, and in fact, I think Wynne would be good at writing a mythology book instead, à la Edith Hamilton or Robert Graves. Her writing style suits these short tales of ancient myths. However, their content is absolutely wasted: the only real presence of these ancient women in the actual plot, beyond the student's two-sentence opinions on them, is the fact that the novel's climax is inspired by Dido's story : her funeral pyre inspires the arson and fire to the whole school. It could have been interesting if the figure of Dido had been the primary interest of the students, but we are presented with so many ancient women that none are used enough.

-The basic stereotypical feminism of it all. How do we know that Rose's mother was a feminist? Oh, yes, we are told that she went to marches to burn bras. No, I don't care that this was a thing that happened in the 70s. Talk about stereotypical! Show me she is a feminist through conversations between her and her daughter, don't tell me. All the "feminist" elements of the novel reek of white feminism and privilege, and they're boring. It's 2020 (or 1993 in the novel, but still) and we don't need any more "white girls get empowered by their teacher who wears lipstick like it's revolutionary."

Anyway. The writing style did not bother me, but other than that I think this book is deeply flawed and I hate that editors and agents greenlit this. I would not recommend.

[Jenny Lawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This genre is totally my jam but I had a hard time not wanting to throttle the characters sometimes. 3.5 stars

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a trainee history teacher who also wants to teach Latin and Classics, this book was irresistible. A prestigious boarding school, a new Classics teacher, some kind of dark past with the potential for murder most foul. It was ticking all the right boxes.

BUT... I could see where this was going long before the main character- and I doubt I'm the only one. Rose, our heroine, is a terrible teacher and an awful narrator, ineffective at every damn thing she tries to do. The plot is patchy and full of Rose's weird choices, which are only remotely believable because this is 1992 and there aren't any mobile phones. A few texts could saved the whole thing. On top of that, the inclusion of mythical women, which I was really excited about, served only to work as a rather tenuous motivator for action in the last past of the book. An unforgivable let down, to say the very least.

Most of all, if you've got this twisted system that works, why bring in someone new who is probably going to fuck it all up? Of all the people to choose, a young woman like this is not the one.

A chance missed with this one.

ARC via Netgalley

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mamma mia where do I begin.

Despite having a deliciously enticing premise, Madam fails on just about every level. Set at the fictional Scottish all girls’ boarding school Caldonbrae Hall, Madam introduces Rose, a bright young ingenue of a teacher who gets a job as the head of Caldonbrae’s Classics department — notably and oddly, she’s the school’s first outside hire in over a decade. She arrives at Caldonbrae and quickly discerns that there is fuckery afoot.

The entire function of Rose’s character is to unearth the fuckery. There is so little interiority to her character that there is never a sense that she is a real person living this experience; she is transparently a thriller protagonist bumbling around chasing clues, and she does an agonizingly terrible job at it. Every time a character starts to reveal something and then realizes they’ve said too much, Rose lets it go — quite the impressive regard for boundaries, given the fact that when she isn’t walking away from people mid-conversation, she’s asking everyone and their mother impertinent questions that go nowhere. This is, quite literally, the entire book. The fuckery is, of course, eventually unearthed, and yes, it was indeed the most obvious explanation that you guessed by page 50, but anyway, what happens at this point in the book? Rose actually takes the fate of her students into her own hands? She allies with someone to bring about systemic change? She realizes resistance is futile and makes a plan to get the hell out of Dodge? No, she basically just… asks more questions. More specific questions, this time around, to be fair to her.

Anyway, I mentioned briefly that Rose is a Classics teacher, so let’s go back to that. Having been raised by a second-wave feminist, Rose has internalized a lot of her mother’s values (she wouldn’t go as far as to call herself a feminist though, heaven forfend! Sidebar: I’m not sure that in 2021 we still need novels that spoon-feed feminist ideology to the reader by adding a spoonful of sugar to the medicine, holding our hand and reassuring us that “women are people too” isn’t a radical, scary notion, but… Phoebe Wynne disagrees, I guess). Anyway, Rose is drawn to female characters and historical figures from Greek and Roman mythology and history, and spotlights a handful of them — Antigone, Dido, Medea, Lucretia, et al. — in her classes. The integration of classics into this novel is so ham-fisted, so unsubtle, so unnecessary, it bears asking why it had to be the classics at all. The Secret History (a very different project with very different aims that I am not attempting to compare to Madam on a deeper level, to be clear) would not be The Secret History if it were about a group of chemical engineering students — the classics are so integral to that novel’s themes and framework that it would crumble without that element. If We Were Villains would not be If We Were Villains if the students were studying Jane Austen instead of Shakespeare. This isn’t a criticism; it shows how deliberately constructed those novels are. In Madam, the classics are merely an arbitrary addition that could have been substituted with impactful women from any period of literature or history and netted the exact same result: a half-baked commentary on how History Has Not Been Kind To Women.

Aside from being thematically careless, this book was just poorly written on a sentence-by-sentence level. Inexplicably, most scenes are recounted in the pluperfect tense:

“Earlier that morning she’d knotted her unruly hair into a thick plait[…]”

“Rose had gazed at the delightful picture they all made, touching her own blazer with a tinge of shame.”

“She’d stopped by Anthony’s office on Friday to see if he wanted to go for a walk together over the weekend.”

Why? Why are we being narrated scenes that already happened rather than just… being shown those scenes? The whole thing takes on a very tell-don’t-show style, which I believe can work in certain circumstances, but this ain’t it. Also, the details in this book are all in the wrong places. It’s set at a boarding school, and the school itself is barely described — we are usually up to date on the state of Rose’s hair, though. I also think it should be a cardinal sin for a book to start with a journey (in this case: Rose on the train to Caldonbrae), end the chapter when they arrive, and start the following chapter the next morning. We don’t see Rose settling into her flat, we don’t see her walking around the school, we don’t see any of it. The exposition is just terrible. Characters are also introduced at such a lightning speed that I couldn’t keep track of who anyone was and I had no sense of how many students or teachers were at this school.

Changing gears now: as other reviewers have noted, the white saviorism and the tokenistic portrayal of a group of Japanese students is downright shameful. Diversity does not need to serve a narrative function, and indeed, it’s often better when it does not, especially in the hands of a white author writing about non-white characters. Here, the function is both extant and obvious: it’s to illustrate by comparison how progressive Rose is. And I quote:

“The general spread of white faces made Rose uncomfortable despite the small handful of Asian girls, who seemed to group together. This lack of diversity leaked across the staff, too — not at all appropriate or modern for the nineties, she thought.”

Speaking of diversity and representation, I’m not sure why some people are calling this book queer? It’s not. There is one (1) lesbian character, not the protagonist, and she’s a self-loathing alcoholic, so… not sure why that’s something to celebrate, but whatever.

Anyway, back to the above quote, gross depiction of Japanese students aside — this book is set in the 1990s. That sweet spot for dark academia novels, where authors have the convenience of writing virtually about the present-day, but where the characters don’t have cell phones and laptops which would destroy both the atmosphere and undermine the characters’ work at solving the mystery. That’s all fine and well, but if you take out all the references to Queen and Batman Begins, this book feels like something out of the 1800s. You will hear no disputes from me about the fact that misogyny is alive and well and that certain individuals and institutions hold antiquated values, but those conservative values are satirized to such an extreme here that they start to feel utterly absurd. And the problem is that this book is not trying to be satire. I’m supposed to take it at face value, even when it’s pushing my suspension of disbelief further and further past its breaking point.

Which brings us to The Fuckery. As discussed, I found it very obvious, but that is honestly the least of my damn concerns. The details here were just… so, so ridiculous, trying so hard to be provocative. The “Worship” scene (if you know you know) is the most unintentionally funny thing I have read in my entire life. This was supposed to be a horrifying scene and I just couldn’t stop laughing at the fact that someone actually greenlit this garbage. I could practically see Phoebe Wynne rubbing her hands together in glee for having shocked the reader with something so DARING and TABOO when it actually just served to undermine the impact of whatever psychological abuse was going on here by turning the whole thing into a dark, fucked up cartoonish pantomime.

This was just an incoherent, poorly-constructed project that had no ardor, no artistic integrity, and no intrigue. It was bizarrely terrible and did not have a single redeeming quality and it made me feel cynical about my profession (I’m an editor) and if you take anything from this review let it be this: read literally any other book! Please! I don’t care how good the summary is! I suffered so you don’t have to!!!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy provided in exchange for an honest review.

[Ellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caldonbrae was less of a school, and more of an elite institution containing its own churning practices, a forever fortess turning within itself.

Madam is such a beautifully atmospheric book, and it's one of my favourite things about it. The oppressive gloom of Caldonbrae Hall perching high on the cliffs above the grey sea, the bleak Scottish coastline flanking the school, the ghostly haar fogs and torrential sheets of near-constant wind and rain . . . it's a perfect setting for this female-focused dark academia-esque novel.

Set at an elite all-girls boarding school, what seems like an excellent opportunity for a young Classics teacher soon becomes a nightmare as she realises the school's true purpose is training girls to be excellent wives rather than aspiring minds. Despite being set in 1993 and featuring references to significant figures such as Princess Diana, the school is largely closed off from outside society and influence to further Caldonbrae's ideology of an 'ideal woman'. Forget feminism and suffragettes; Caldonbrae's version of feminity is more aligned with everything from before the twentieth century. Some people may find it rather unrealistic, but honestly I wouldn't be entirely unsurprised if some bizarre upper-class undercover operation like this did come to light. Either way, I found it a compelling read. The pacing is on the slower side, but I liked the slow unwind.

Women from the Classics are also vital in this story. From Medea to Medusa, their tales weave an undercurrent of defiance and possibility into students whose only prior purpose was to train themselves into perfection for a future husband. This defiance is most clear in the fourth years Rose teaches (especially Freddy, Nessa and Daisy), and they were the characters I was most fond of as a result.

On the whole, it was a book I very much enjoyed bar a few bits. There are a handful of LGBTQ+ characters (only one clearly labelled on-page, the rest only vaguely referred to), but I wasn't really fond of how any of them were handled. There's a lot of potential within the setting of all-female boarding schools to explore the full extent of complex female relationships, but Madam doesn't go into this. I think another interesting angle for this story would've been through two sapphic students with a 'forbidden' relationship (unsurprisingly, Caldonbrae perpetuates the view that LGBTQ+ relationships and individuals are abnormal).

A very small part of Madam tentatively examines the quiet exile of a small cohort of Japanese students in this incredibly white school with incredibly imperialist attitudes. In one scene, geishas are brought in to educate the Japanese students and the heroine conflates being a geisha with being a prostitute - it's a misunderstanding, perhaps, due to Western narratives perpetuating falsehoods about geishas, but it rubbed me the wrong way. However the wider inclusion of the Japanese students and the fact that the inherently white and classist setting of private English schools like Caldonbrae is somewhat examined in Madam is interesting. I wish it had been explored in further depth, but perhaps this would've been spreading the story too thin. But for anyone wanting a critique of academic institutions and how their history is rooted in colonialism, R.F. Kuang's Babel is worth a look.

Overall, I thought it was a strong debut and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys dark academia with a female focus such as The Furies or Plain Bad Heroines. Phoebe Wynne writes beautifully and crafts such an atmosphere, so depending what their next project is, I'll likely pick it up.

> 4/4.2 stars

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review!

also so random but the author is the aunt of actor roman griffin davies from jojo rabbit

*

Did someone say . . .

- female-focused dark academia?
- for fans of The Secret History and Rebecca?
- set at a boarding school in Scotland?

[Alexis Hall]

This was … a thing I read? I’m not sure it super worked for me, despite it seeming to be the sort of thing I’d like? Since it centres on a naïve young classics teacher joining an elite board school of the gothic AF variety that, of course, turns out to be evil AF too. That’s not a spoiler but this review will contain spoilers throughout.

So, y’know, you’ve been warned. Though I will say, the plot is kind of obvious from the get-go? There wasn’t a single twist that I didn’t see coming way, way before the central character and while this isn’t per se a problem (texts are as much about the HOWS as the WHATS) I did feel in this particular book it kind of was because it’s relying heavily on the gothic/thriller/mystery elements to keep you reading.

And, um, it’s honestly a bit of a slog?

I was also slightly reminded of The Amber Fury but only, I think, because that is about liberating and/or driving young women bananas by teaching them classics. I don’t know why all classics teachers seem to feel this about their subject. Maybe I should try to write a book about how my presentation of the Planck constant liberates some marginalised youngsters from the hitherto unquestioned restrictions of their existence. Although if this and The Amber Fury have shown me anything it’s that depicting “good” teaching on page is borderline impossible.

ANYWAY. The central ‘twist’ (although it’s barely a twist because it’s fucking obvious the moment the heroine steps over the threshold) of Madam is that Caldonbrae Hall—a school built on an isolated Scottish peninsula by an obviously dodgy Victorian dude with six daughters all named after feminine virtues—isn’t actually a school that prepares young women for their future in the traditional sense. It instead prepares, by which I mean grooms, them to be trophy wives for important menz. And there are, like, pathways depending on how good a trophy wife you’re likely to be: Elite for the top strata of menz, Professional for barristers and doctors and shit, and Compassion for … old rich dudes? Or else, if no old rich dude wants you, staying on at the school a la Jane Eyre and Lowood to become a teacher yourself.

I mean, it’s meant to be shocking but it’s obviously nonsense. Also sexually abusive because, I don’t know, apparently the book didn’t trust us to be shocked enough at the notion of young women being psychologically controlled and sold off and needed us to also show us a lesson where they’re taught to give blowjobs to a notably physically repulsive teacher? It kind of reminded me a bit of the television adaption of The Handmaid’s Tale where the heroine is at the anti-feminist brainwashing centre (which is in the book) and one of the other brainwashee’s says the wrong thing and gets her eye gouged out (which definitely isn’t the book). And I’m not saying getting your eye gouged out isn’t terrible BUT THE WHOLE BRAINWASHING THING IS TERRIBLE TO BEGIN WITH. One gets the message Caldonbrae Hall is evil beyond reckoning at the point they are SELLING YOUNG WOMEN. We don’t need to see them being forced to worship the specifically unpleasant dong of a specifically unpleasant man.

Also it just makes zero sense from a pedagogical perspective. You could teach the same lesson with a goddamn dildo. Which, for the record, would still be absolutely inappropriate in every conceivable way. But it wouldn’t feel as deliberately, crassly and gratuitously calculated to shock and appall.

Oh God, and just don’t get me STARTED on the Japanese (or generically Asian? The book wavers on this point) girls who the school have recently taken on as part of a plan to take their SELLING YOUNG WOMEN business international. Unlike the other girls the heroine interacts with, who are at least somewhat distinguished by personality and appearance, these girls are all undistinguishably almond-eyed with silky hair and it later turns out they’re being trained to be Geishas. Which the heroine is all outraged about. But, like, again this makes no sense? Firstly, Geishas aren’t prostitutes and it’s racist to assume they are, and … like … I don’t understand why, if you wanted to your daughter to become a Geisha, you’d send her to a random British school in Scotland? Instead of, y’know, an actual Geisha house?

Okay so I guess I didn’t like this book? The writing seems fine? I appreciated the gothic descriptions of the school and sea and the storm-thrashed Scottish countryside. Although I felt the characterisation was wavery at best. There’s a big cast here, between the girls and the staff, but I really wish I understood more about what was motivating the (male) headmaster and the (female) deputy head to, you know, do this? Especially because there’s some hint that he does not come from any sort of privileged background. There’s also a self-hating, alcoholic lesbian who constantly lies to the heroine and has a kind wild crush on her so, err, that was also uncomfortable-making for all the wrong reasons. Basically everyone is awful as they kind of deserve to be for colluding in such a disgusting system—which might have been an attempt at some broader point on the toll of complicity but, who know?

The problem here is that because we know the school burns down catastrophically (this is the opening chapter) all the older girls have to be brainwashed beyond hope and the staff complicit beyond redemption in order to—on some level—semi-justify their grim fate. The heroine herself at some point kind of concludes that most of the upper school (beyond her favoured three) are too damaged and brainwashed to be saved. Which … BAD TEACHING. You do not give up the kids. Ever.

As for the heroine, she mostly behaves like she wants to further the plot of a semi-gothic novel, by being cowed and defiant pretty much at random? She’s also right-on in this way that feels annoying and insincere—like constantly telling The Self-Hating Lesbian that it’s okay to be gay, and wanting to white saviour the Japanese girls. There’s shades of Jane Eyre in here, and shades of the second Mrs de Winter, in her insecurities, her awareness of her relatively humble background. But I don’t think she was consistent enough for me to form any real opinion of her beyond her role in moving the narrative forward.

Also, it just didn’t make sense that the school would hire her in the first place. I think she’s meant to be awesome teacher, plus they seem to feel they can control her somehow, and force her to submit to what the school wants and does. But there must be easier ways. Better people to choose. Surely?

And, oh God, now I’m just nitpicking and whinging. I should also note the book is specifically set in the early 90s because I don’t think the school would even work as a concept in a world where people have ready access to mobiles and the internet. Not that I think it worked at a concept in a book set in the 1990s.

So. Yeah. Not for me this one. And, honestly, it’s kind of hard for me to see who exactly it would, could or might be for.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely cleansing my palette with Madam after some of the questionable thrillers I've read taking place in schools. Madam is exceptional at using the school setting to both make it eerie and use the protagonist's own classics lessons as foreshadowing.


Rose is very rootable in the sense of how bold she is. While she is trying to maintain a job at this extremely prestigious and secretive school, she is outspoken and ready to take a stand. While it may not come across that way when you start reading, her character does grow in a very satisfactory way. In one that was new and intimidated by this huge boarding school and "mean girls", to one who is ready to plant seeds of doubt and prepared to make an escape.

I like the themes and questions that Wynne brings up, which I do like having a somewhat concrete type of moral or answer when the book ends. While it could've been a little shorter, this would be a great read for those who want a strong new iteration of the creepy school trope.

[Kristy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A gothic boarding school tale that falls flat

Rose Christie is nervous but excited when she's hired on as the new Head of Classics at Caldonbrae Hall, a boarding school for girls in Scotland. A renowned establishment for 150 years, Caldonbrae is a far step above Rose's current teaching gig and will offer a chance to help her mother, who is struggling with MS. Rose is the first external hire in over a decade, making her an immediate outsider, along with her youthful age. She quickly feels over her head at Caldonbrae, where the teachers and students alike seem to lord over her. But soon Rose realizes that everyone seems to be on to a secret, except her. Why did the last Classics teacher, Jane, leave so suddenly? As Rose learns more about Caldonbrae, she quickly realizes it is nothing like she expected.

"One way or another someone was going to get eaten alive here, Rose realized. She'd be damned if it was her."

I'm a sucker for boarding school stories, but this one did not live up to the promised hype for me. It grew on me a small bit by the end, but when I say this is a slow burning tale, I mean SLOW. I was incredibly tempted to "DNF" this book, but stuck with it, skimming or fast reading portions of it. The big twist, so to speak, doesn't come until halfway through (55% in fact). At that point, we have sat through lots of classics lessons and pontificating about Caldonbrae and gotten to know a lot of girls at the school.

Although, "getting to know" is probably generous, as there's a lack of character development throughout most of MADAM. There are a variety of girls at Caldonbrae thrust upon us, but I found it nearly impossible to keep many of them straight. (It doesn't help that the UK version of schooling is hard to follow, with thirds, fourths, and more tossed about, but rarely ages. Woe to us idiotic Americans!)

We know little about Rose, are offered a scarce backstory, and pieces about her father that are supposed to form her personality seem tossed in haphazardly. Instead she drove me crazy with her dithering and inability to make decisions. Most of the time I just wanted to shake her. She was in an impossible situation, perhaps, but she seemed unable to grasp anything for much of the book, or realize the seriousness of her circumstances.

I think MADAM was going for ominous and creepy--everything building up to its explosive ending (which is hinted at in the beginning pages), but it falls short. Instead, it seems more annoying and perplexing. When the twist is revealed, it's an interesting one, yes, but I couldn't help but question it, wonder how such a thing could be sustainable. MADAM just couldn't keep up the eerie tone it was trying for.

There's definite storytelling potential here, and I did find myself somewhat attached to a few of the girls by the end, when things pick up slightly. MADAM tries to align the classics (think tales of Medea and Antigone and such) with its boarding school girls, but often the tacked on tales of these mythical and classical women feel like unnecessary, added on pieces. It reaches too high, trying for a feminist angle, but falls short, with a fast ending that cannot possibly live up to all those classical, high-reaching aims.

"...she wondered how an establishment that promised to educate 'girls of the world' could somehow make its women feel so small."

Overall, there's a lot going on in MADAM, but it just didn't gel for me. I couldn't root for Rose for most of the novel, and the classic pieces inserted into the plot didn't work. There were sparks I enjoyed, but overall, this wasn't a favorite. 2.5 stars.

I received a copy of this novel from St. Martin's Press and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.

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[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brooding boarding school in Scotland, a teacher who left under circumstances no one seems willing to discuss and students who know more than they are letting on. I couldn’t resist reading it. According to the publisher this novel contains “shades of The Secret History, The Stepford Wives and a dash of Circe.” Well, yes and no. There is a small group of students studying the classics at an elite school. So, there’s that but the teacher is in over her head, the students are less than willing scholars and the only dash of Circe is that the stories of Agrippina, Dido, Antigone, Medusa etc. are taught. I’ll concede to “riveting, modern gothic” because it certainly kept my attention. Bestseller potential.

[Madeline · Rating 1 out of 5]

File under: LOL, you tried.

(Although when I decided to read this book, I broke my cardinal rule of "don't read books that claim to be 'for fans of The Secret History' because that is always, always a lie" so who's the real idiot here?)

The true tragedy is that, because this book relies so heavily on The Twist, I can't fully get into all the ways the novel fails on every possible level, because to do so would require spoiling The Twist - yeah, I can write a review and hide it because of spoilers, but come on, nobody reads those if they haven't already read the book and I want to warn as many people as possible. But here's what I can say without giving anything away. It boils down to three main points:

1. I realized pretty early on that this book was Not My Cup of Tea, and the only reason I didn't abandon it halfway through was because I wanted to know what The Twist was. Or, most accurately, I guessed The Twist very early on and wanted to finish the book because I was sure that Wynne had to have something else up her sleeve, and the big reveal had to have more to it than what was blatantly projected from basically the first chapter.

But she didn't. There is no startling last-minute reveal, no clever pulling the rug out from under the reader. The blatantly obvious Sinister Secret going on behind the scenes is all Phoebe Wynne has, so the reveal of the The Twist is less of a shocking reveal and more of a confirmation that I guessed right.

2. In a similar vein, there is no payoff to the fact that the story takes place in the mid-90's. I thought maybe we were going to get to see one of the students as an adult in modern day, or maybe we would get a cool flash-forward to see what the school looks like in 2019, but nope. The only reason the book takes place in the 90's is clearly because Phoebe Wynne couldn't figure out how to make her scenario plausible in a world where cell phones and the internet exist, so she had to set it 30 years in the past. And even then, her scenario is barely plausible but again I frustratingly cannot get into details about why. Rest assured, though, that any horror or dread this book manages to conjure up is instantly undercut by the knowledge that Caldonbrae Hall and its Sinister Secret have a shelf life of about ten more years, and then the whole system is going to collapse on itself because it's not sustainable at all.

3. Obviously this novel is not a worthy successor to The Secret History, but the publishers went a step further in their claims that fans of Donna Tartt's book would also enjoy Madam. Putting aside the surface similarities (this one also involves Classics students, but that's literally it), the fucking themes don't even match up. Madam is a ham-fisted wannabe-feminist statement piece that falls flat on its face, a paper-thin fable straight out of the White Feminism school of "it's only sad when it happens to white girls."

It isn't feminist. It isn't Gothic. It isn't scary. And it's definitely not anything close to The Secret History.

[luce (cry bebè's back from hiatus)]

DNF 25%

When netgalley approved my requested for Madam I was low-key ecstatic. However, my giddiness was short lived.
This was not the Gothic story I was hoping it would be...the 'boarding school' setting leaves a lot to be desired and although on GR this novel falls under the LGBTQ+ genre this is not a queer novel (even if I haven't finished it I have a feeling that there may be one side character who is queer). I probably could have been fine with Madam not being a very Gothic or sapphic read but I just could not look past the way the story is presented. I don't think the author is to 'blame' for this but their editor.
disclaimer: I did not finish this book so this may prove to be a fantastic read. If you are thinking of reading this book I recommend you read reviews from other readers.

Here are a few of the 'issues' I had with this book (feel free to disagree):
-the prologue, which takes place in summer 1993, strikes me as a wee bit overwritten. We have "soft silk dresses", "slim girlish arms", "the cool sweet air of the night swirled high above them as if in mockery". Still, I did like the following line, "the school building felt none of this urgency, standing firm despite its burning injury, holding fast as it was eaten from the inside out", which reminded me of Shirley Jackson.
-the prologue is followed by a letter from the headmaster to former head of Classics which doesn't add a lot to the narrative. I guess it hints at some mystery, but it was kind of too on the nose (her employment "must be terminated" and it promises "severe repercussions" if she were to discuss "the school anywhere outside its grounds").
-we then are introduced to our supposed protagonist, Rose. There is clunky scene in which she speaking to her mother on the phone, followed by her rather detailed journey to Caldonbrae Hall. Although Rose is "young" (twenty-six) she will be the new head of Classics at Caldonbrae. Her mother, who lives in Kent, is sick (cue dramatic "cough" to signal she is not well) and Rose feels kind of guilty at the prospect of going off to Scotland. Anyhow, we read of her journey. She stops at a cafe bar where a man with strong There Be Strangers™ vibes makes some cheesily ominous comments. Her train is late (oh no!) and Rose flushes "with alarm". Next thing you now Rose is Caldonbrae Hall and her driver is a bit brusque.
Do we get a detailed description of the place? No. Do we read of Rose making into her new home? No.
The scene cuts from her leaving the car to "the following morning". Talk about anticlimactic. What was the point of that drawn-out journey? Once we get to the interesting place the story just skips ahead only to skip back with a quick "the night before" in which we just read of Rose being informed that the headmaster was too busy to come meet her and she is taken to her flat (in a building near the hall? How big is it? How many flats? Do all members of staff live there? Who knows. It may be a grey building).
-When the narrative skips ahead again Rose is walking about the place, and we get a very supreficial overview of Caldonbrae, which is described as "hauntingly empty" (insert eye roll here). She spots a creepy girl who, of course, has "dark hair" and "staring eyes". Ffs. Then we get this classic line, "when she looked back at the school again—was it minutes, hours later?"
-There is no sense of place and the passage of time is not clearly rendered. I have no idea how many members of staff Rose meets, how many staff members there are....she's given a timetable that isn't correct or something and that's kind of it. The one or two colleagues she talks too are creepy and allegedly older than she is.
-Rose's first lessons are not great, the girls are disrespectful and seem to claim that they had a hand in her predecessor's departure. Rose is unnerved by the creepy girl. Every member of staff she talks to sounds as if they belong to a cult. Rose keeps forgetting the strict rules (she has to wear a smart blazer at all times, she can only address her colleagues as 'Madam' or 'Sir'—surely this would get confusing? If she asking after someone wouldn't it be easier to use their surname than to refer to the position they are in or the subject they teach?—and she asks too many questions). Although Rose seems to know that this school is more traditional and old-fashioned than her previous one, and that she is in fact closer in age to the older students than to youngest members of staff, she seems surprised that her colleagues would not select movies such as Batman Returns or Alien 3 on Movie Nights (a real ingénue).
-the writing. Not only do we have "squinting smiles" but apparently characters cannot simply "say" things (a girl "piped up", another one "chimed in", they "snap", "bark", "garble", and Rose "splutters" a total of 7 times in the course of the whole book). The author goes to great efforts in order not to use "said"....and it shows (not in a good way). A great book that discusses this (the under-usage of "said") is Stephen King's On Writing.
-not only is Rose a boring and nondescript main character but she is far too credulous. She seems more fitting to a book set in the early 19th century and not the 1990s.

Given that I dislike everything about this book I am doing myself a favour and calling it quits. The best thing about Madam is its cover design.

[Provin Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was neither the best nor the worst book I have ever read. It’s a story about a teacher (rose)at a prestigious private all girls school. All the teachers are referred to as Madam, which can be quite confusing. Rose teaches the girls about Greek goddesses in an attempt to instill power and self-sufficiency into them. Although the school is quite odd, it gets even more odd when Rose finds out the school is just preparing the young women to be wives. This makes some of the classes very absurd. Each chapter starts with some Greek mythology, which reminded me of the book The Maidens.

[Quirkyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

First off, I won this as a goodreads giveaway. Thank you St. Martins Press.

This book gripped me from the first and I wanted to finish it in one sitting.

If you liked “The Handmaid’s Tale”, this goes way beyond it. Mostly what I though was unnerving about this story is that parts of it might actually be true.

Read it and find out what I mean.

[Chandler Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine if Donna Tartt and Margaret Atwood got together to write a creepy, suspenseful novel about a school for young women in the Scottish Highlands. The result is Madam, a book I couldn't for the life of me put down. Brooding and unsettling, Wynne paints a gorgeous picture that only serves to camouflage the dark secrets she's hidden within.

[Sadie Hartmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars!
I listened to the audiobook and I can assure you it's an experience far superior to reading the physical book. There is a large cast of characters--the staff and all the students--as well as Scottish groundskeepers with accents, trust me--you do not want to miss this and muddle your way through on your own. The narrator does a great job giving all the characters their own voice and personality. There are classic Greek mythology lessons at the beginning of the chapters which I think I would be tempted to skip or skim if I were reading the book--just be totally transparent, but the narrator did an excellent job giving these sections their own flare and importance--making sure to emphasize the foreshadowing in the following chapter.
Madam is very Gothic, feminist Gothic, but it isn't paranormal or supernatural. The horrors of this boarding school are in its secretive and private practices, all of which will come to light. I enjoyed sipping my tea and munching popcorn throughout all the drama between the students and staff. Quite seductive, utterly scandalous, and I did not see certain things coming...
Recommended for readers who love
-Dark Academia
-Boarding Schools for Girls
-New Teacher/Student drama
-Secrets & Lies
-Feminism
-Greek Mythology
-LBGTQ
-Secret Societies
-Strong Female Protagonists

[Ashley Daviau · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a feeling I’d enjoy this book but I had no idea that I’d love it so much that it would become a contender for my favourite book of the year! It might be classified as a slow burn in true gothic mystery fashion but it was absolutely riveting and I never felt like I wanted the pace to pick up, a slow burn was perfect for this story. I was hooked from start to finish and I couldn’t put the book down, I had a deep burning desire to find out how it would turn out. I really couldn’t have loved this book more, it had everything I love in a horror novel and heaps more. I think the perfect way to describe this book is Stepford Wives meets Catherine House and if that doesn’t make you want to pick up this book and devour it then I don’t know what will!

[Nadia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Caldonbrae Hall, a prestigious girls boarding school with a long history and tradition located on a remote Scottish peninsula, has hired a new teacher, which had not happened for a decade. Rose is a young Classics teacher who is very excited and honoured to be chosen to teach at Caldonbrae. However, as soon as she arrives in Scotland, it is obvious that this is an unusual school, and education does not appear to be the main focus here. 

Rose's story is enriched with mythological tales of strong women analysed at her lessons with her students. I wasn't sure at first what to think about that but as the book progressed I looked forward to these interludes.

Madam has an intriguing premise that will keep you guessing what on earth is the headmaster and everyone at the school up to. Although I would welcome more character development in the book, I found Madam an impressive debut novel and an enjoyable read. 

Many thanks to the publisher for my review copy in exchange for an honest review. 

[Ellie Spencer (catching up from hiatus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounded down from around 3.5 Stars

Madam follows Rose, the new classics teacher at a mysterious and foreboding boarding school. Tradition, class and secrets run rampant throughout the school. Nothing is as it seems, and the power the school holds over Rose's life is more than she could have ever expected.

I absolutely loved the setting of this novel. The boarding school in the wilds of Scotland felt deeply disturbing and was a perfect back drop for a thriller. I found myself speeding through the first section of the book, I just could not get enough of the creepy setting. I also really enjoyed the parts involving Greek mythology. What I know about Greek mythology is from primary school, so I really learnt a lot from this book.

Unfortunately, the book fell slightly flat for me after this. There were definitely parts that I enjoyed, but I found it hard to connect to the characters, especially Rose. Rose just wasn't the heroine I was looking for, she left me feeling frustrated and confused. At times things felt a little repetitive too, Rose would gain strength to fight the powers that be, and then would submit again.

That being said, I think this was a great debut novel by and I will be keeping my eyes out for more from Phoebe Wynne. I feel the ending could have been setting up a sequel, which I would definitely read, especially if it was set in another boarding school!! I want to thank NetGalley, the publishers and author for allowing me to read this novel and give my personal thoughts. I would recommend this book to thriller fans who want a different setting, especially those with an underlying interest in mythology.

[Katie Colson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has Catherine House vibes.
It’s eerie and you’re not sure why. Everyone’s in on it and you’re the only one in the dark. It’s claustrophobic and suspenseful. You’re trying to connect dots but then you wish you hadn’t.

I really enjoyed this. I’m not sure why it has gotten such mixed reviews.

[Carrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Madam by Phoebe Wynne is a gothic historical mystery/thriller set in a boarding school on the Scottish cliffs. Of course with my love of creepy boarding school thrillers I thought I would love this one but unfortunately as the saying goes we can’t love them all.

Rose Christie is the first new teacher hired at the elite Caldonbrae Hall in over a decade. At 26 years old Rose is proud to be the new head of the classics department but stepping into the halls of Caldonbrae Hall Rose quickly begins to see not all is as it seems inside Caldonbrae Hall.

Picking up Madam I quickly started thinking that the story was not what I expected I was going to get and sometimes that is perfectly fine but not so much here. This book reminded me a lot of a young adult fantasy I read a few years back and I really enjoyed that one but this one seemed to take the same concept and make me dislike it. I really didn’t enjoy the characters in this and the story seemed to drag on with the dark material that was probably supposed to shock a reader actually just feeling dull and lifeless since I couldn’t get engrossed in this one.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.com/

[Mara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the atmosphere of this one - it is set at a creepy all girls boarding school in Scotland where things are *not as they seem* and I liked that there was an element of purposeful disorientation on the part of the author. That said, I think the delivery on the promise of the premise was not as strong as I would have liked, and I think the metaphor, while relevant, was rather on the nose. Still, this kept my interest and I think for a debut, this was pretty entertaining

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was done a great disservice on Netgalley by being categorized as women’s fiction. I almost passed it by, but gothic mystery grabbed my attention, especially with this being October and all and sure enough…definitely not women’s fiction. I mean, it’s written by a woman and features primarily all female cast, so maybe technically, but not in any way that matters. What this book is…is a work of feminist dystopian fiction, handmaids in boarding school. Because so much of feminist dystopias concentrate on reproduction rights, so usually features women, maybe of a certain age, this one takes it back to teens. Why not start early in the game and get every advantage. Why not shape the perfect wives of tomorrow today? That actually can be a slogan for Caldonbrae. An atmospherically forbidding old world boarding school establishment set in the atmospherically forbidding Scottish highlands. Remote, strict and dedicated to providing a very specific sort of education, Caldonbrae’s goal is to turn out the perfect wives for the man who can afford them, the upper echelons of society, etc. But, of course, it’s a discreet establishment that protects its secrets. So when our protagonist, a young teacher, gets offered a job there, it initially just seems too good to be real. Financial circumstances being what they are, dire, she has no choice but to accept the position and comes to live and teach the challenging difficult girls there and then slowly she uncovers the truth of the place and once she knows it, has to decide whether it’s something she can possibly tolerate or something to rebel against. You know it’ll go somewhat incendiary, because the novel starts with the fire. But you have to read it to find out the whys and hows and aftermaths. And this is why this book must not be dismissed as women’s fiction…it’s good and smart and alarming. It tackles ideas, not insipid romances or reproduction. It actively takes on The Stepford Wife scenario and goes to the source, goes wild with it, really. The best thing about this book is how effective it is in the warped logic and arguments behind the Caldonbrae’s ideology. The girls are systematically brainwashed into assuming traditional conservative roles the society has ascribed to them for centuries to such a degree that they don’t even think to question, mostly. It takes one outsider, one educator of Classics, to start a revolution of a sort, to ignite liberal thinking, to challenge the norms. The use of Classics is very clever here too, it showcases traditional female roles in history and mythology (so basically victims or whores or manipulators) and the tragic ends they came to and extends that thinking to the present day, a subject ideal for extrapolating, teaching, igniting fires. There’s a reason feminist dystopias are on a rise lately, the reason arguably the most famous of them all got a sequel last year after all this time, women’s rights (such as they are) are a relatively recent thing and seem to be constantly under attack and yes I am writing this as one of the world’s largest democracies currently contemplates revisiting abortion subject. Seriously. Why and how can this still be something to question in this day and age? This is supposed to be the future. So it’s all eerily timely and scary and important to read about, to talk about. This book definitely brings something new to that table. It’s original, well written and oh so dark, especially the ending. Definitely a worthy read. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

[Bethany (Beautifully Bookish Bethany) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 4.5 stars

While this book isn't perfect, I had a hell of a good time reading it! It's very much my kind of book. A feminist gothic thriller with a creepy boarding school and dark secrets. Yes, yes, yes. I loved it.

Is it a bit on the nose thematically? Yeah.
Might some readers find the main character frustrating or unlikeable? Definitely.
Did I have a pretty good idea of where the book was going from early on? Yep.
But did any of that affect my enjoyment of the reading experience? No, it decidedly did not!

This might not be the right book for everyone but I'm very glad I picked it up. It's a book about the patriarchy, power, and privilege. It also uses stories from the Greek classics for emphasis. What is consent and how do we make difficult choices? I really enjoyed it.

I will say, reviewers who point out that this doesn't do a great job trying to address the racism in the school have a point. Things like that do feel like a first novel that is trying to talk about how white supremacy is very real issue in the UK, especially among elites, but doesn't execute on it very well. Note that there are content warnings for abuse and pedophilia. I get why people might not like this, but one thing I do want to address is this being set in the 90's. People don't find it believable. Here's the thing, I agree that something so extreme wouldn't really exist BUT the issues explored her are still alive and well among the upper classes today, so I'm not sure it's as wild as everyone is saying.

[Erin Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

A chilling, gothic, feminist tale of just what could be going on behind the closed doors of elite boarding schools. The horror built with relentless pace. I devoured this book.