Madam

Madam

Phoebe Wynne

Book - 2021

"A riveting, modern gothic debut with shades of The Secret History, The Stepford Wives, and a dash of Circe, set at a secretive all girls' boarding school perched on a craggy Scottish peninsula. 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 prestig...e 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"--

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Subjects
Boarding schools > Fiction.
Girls' schools > Fiction.
Teachers > Fiction.
Secrecy > Fiction.
Thrillers (Fiction)
Gothic fiction.
Historical fiction.
Suspense fiction.
Genres
Thrillers (Fiction)
Gothic fiction
Historical fiction
Suspense fiction
Published
New York : St. Martin's Press, an imprint of St. Martin's Publishing Group 2021.
Language
English
Main Author
Phoebe Wynne (author)
Edition
First U.S. edition
Item Description
"A novel" -- Jacket.
"First published in 2021 in the United Kingdom by Quercus Books." -- Title page verso.
Physical Description
340 pages ; 25 cm
ISBN
9781250272041
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

When Rose Christie first arrives at Caldonbrae, a seaside boarding school in Scotland, she is excited to teach mythology to her young female students. But all is not as she expected: her students are cynical and dismissive, her fellow faculty is clearly keeping secrets from her, and then the school takes on power of attorney for her sick mother without asking permission. Rose soon discovers that beneath this elite institution claiming to be at the forefront of modern education lies a dangerous toxicity rooted in "traditional" values and the need to maintain patriarchal forms of power. But she has hope that she can get through, somehow, to save her students--particularly the three young girls who fall for her stories of powerful mythological women. Wynne's writing is slow, steady, and suspenseful, with the novel's twists built carefully into the text to highlight the overwhelming nature of systemic power and the helplessness and bleakness that lie at the core of the school's system. Fans of dark academia will fall hard for this gothic tale powered by bold heroines who refuse to submit.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review

At an exclusive girls school high on the Scottish cliffs, 26-year-old Rose Christie, the new classics head, quickly discovers an uncomfortable disjunction between her progressive beliefs and mission to educate her students for the future and the darkly, starkly traditional culture that prevails. Then she starts wondering why her predecessor left so suddenly. Wynne's debut has a 100,000-copy first printing.

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