Starred review from May 17, 2021
Irish writer Donahue’s atmospheric debut explores unrequited love, obsession, and disappearance in an Irish boarding school. In 1990, 16-year-old Louisa’s test scores earn her a place at the prestigious Temple House, situated in a Victorian manse on a gloomy seaside hill. The dour nuns and the head prefect ensure the reputation of the school for mainly rich and privileged girls is protected from inside defilement, as does snobbish classmate Helen, who bullies Louisa. She remains an outsider until she meets the beautiful, enigmatic student Victoria, and Mr. Lavelle, the school’s heartthrob art teacher. As Louisa, Victoria, and Mr. Lavelle form a clandestine clique, they become enmeshed in a messy triangle that has implications for the entire school and ends with the disappearance of Mr. Lavelle and Louisa. Years later, on the 25th anniversary of their disappearance, an unnamed journalist working on a story about the episode aims to make readers feel like the events “could have them.” It isn’t until the journalist interviews Victoria, now a divorced, successful businesswoman, that the reasons behind the disappearances become unearthed. The creeping pace, melancholic tone, and full-bodied characters create a perfect snapshot of desperate youth amid oppressive tradition. This stands among the best of the current modern gothic trend.
June 1, 2021
In a Gothic mansion in Ireland set upon a hill surrounded by forest and cliffsides, readers meet Louisa and her eccentric friend Victoria, students at Temple House boarding school. Louisa becomes enamored of Victoria, while Victoria becomes dangerously obsessed with their art teacher, Mr. Lavelle. The trio form a sort of friendship, but lines appear to get crossed. Mr. Lavelle seems to neither encourage nor discourage the feelings that students have toward him, making the situation murky. Then one day, both Mr. Lavelle and Louisa disappear, never to be seen nor heard from again. This mystery haunts the students of Temple House, and one journalist is determined to solve it for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the disappearances. In her debut, Donohue deftly captures the longing of unrequited feelings and overwhelming teenage emotions. Long-buried secrets make their way to the surface, making readers contemplate what consequences actions have. Atmospheric and suspenseful, this will be appreciated by fans of Kate Elizabeth Russell's My Dark Vanessa (2020).
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