#AudioBookReview #WhenWeWereSilent by #FionaMcPhillips #NetGalley

NetGalley Description

An outsider threatens to expose the secrets at an elite private school in this suspenseful debut novel for readers of My Dark Vanessa and Dare Me

Louise Manson is the newest student at Highfield Manor, Dublin’s most exclusive private school. It seems nearly perfect: the high arched window alcoves and tall granite pillars, the overspill of lilac at the front gate and the immaculate playing fields, the giggling students, the dusty, oak-lined library, and the dark, festering secret she has come to expose.

At first, Lou’s working-class status makes her the consummate outsider, though all that changes when she is befriended by the beautiful and wealthy Shauna Power. But Lou finds out that even Shauna is caught up in Highfield’s web, and her time there ends with a lifeless body sprawled at her feet.

Thirty years later, Lou has rebuilt her life after the harrowing events of the so-called “Highfield Affair,” when she gets a shocking phone call. Ronan Power, Shauna’s brother, is a high-profile lawyer bringing a lawsuit against the school. And he needs Lou to testify.

Now with a daughter and career to protect, the last thing Lou wants is for Highfield Manor to be back in her life. But to finally free herself and others, she has to confront her past, go to battle once more, and discover, for once and for all, what really happened at Highfield. Powerful and compelling, When We Were Silent is an unputdownable, thrilling story of exploitation, privilege, and retribution.

Review by Coffee&Ink

This harrowing novel emotionally details the sexual abuse of teenage athletes at a prestigious school, and what both the school and society had done to make these young women (and young men) voiceless and vulnerable and nulling out their futures. And though this is a very well done fiction, unfortunately for many, this is their lives. That being said, the main character’s voice is superb in the first person. The narrator’s voice is truly lovely and captures Lou’s character and her determination.

When Lou’s friend commits suicide, she wants to find out why. She suspects someone at Highfield Manor had something to do with it. The whole mystery takes her nearly a half of a lifetime to solve.

An excellent mystery/thriller set in Ireland.

thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book to read and review.

#BookReview #InTheseHallowedHalls Anthology #NetGalley

From NetGalley:

Publisher: Titan Books

Pub Date 12 Sep 2023 

Description

ENROLLMENT BEGINS NOW

A beguiling, sinister collection of 12 dark academia short stories from masters of the genre, including Olivie Blake, M.L. Rio, Susie Yang and more!

In these stories, dear student, retribution visits a lothario lecturer; the sinister truth is revealed about a missing professor; a forsaken lover uses a séance for revenge; an obsession blooms about a possible illicit affair; two graduates exhume the secrets of a reclusive scholar; horrors are uncovered in an obscure academic department; five hopeful initiates must complete a murderous task and much more! 

Definition of dark academia in English:
dark academia
1. An internet subculture concerned with higher education, the arts, and literature, or an idealised version thereof with a focus on the pursuit of knowledge and an exploration of death.
2. A set of aesthetic principles. Scholarly with a gothic edge – tweed blazers, vintage cardigans, scuffed loafers, a worn leather satchel full of brooding poetry. Enthusiasts are usually found in museums and darkened libraries.

Review from Coffee&Ink

Okay, so I’ve suddenly developed an appetite for Dark Academia, though I read The Secret History back in the 90s—I reread it recently and just keep reading what’s being written in its wake. Of course, I had to read and review this anthology. It goes along with my love of darker murder mysteries, but I’m loving the forays into the paranormal/supernatural. Emotionally, I have some unfinished business with Academia—who knows, maybe this will be seeds thrown into the field of a future story.

I just want to say a little something about each story—why I liked it. It’s a 10-star anthology, as far as I’m concerned, an exciting addition to an expanding subgenre.

1. 1000 Ships by Kate Weinberg

This is an origin story for a character in The Truants, even without knowing this, it was a totally engrossing story as a young woman has an epiphany about her relationship with her professor, and her revenge. The Truants is on my Big List of Dark Academia to read soon.

2. Pythia or the Apocalypse Maidens by Olivie Blake

The next story is a potent blend of magic and tech, of ancient and modern. The style is more narrative than the previous story, with a transcript from the questioning of the psychologist involved in the disappearance of–. Well. Magic, tech, and murder. Irresistible.

3. Sabbatical by James Tate Hill

A gritty story set on the campus of a failing community college, the main character a blind professor of Business; perhaps he’s failing and fading too. Everyone is just getting by as they always do when an obsessed former professor knocks on his office door…fascinating in a “watch things go from bad to worse” kind of way.

4. The Hare and the Hound by Kelly Andrew

A fabulous tale of dark magic and tangled revenge steeped in Nordic folklore, this is one of my favorites.

5. X House by JT Ellison

Short, sweet, and disturbing.

6. The Ravages by Layne Fargo

I did not see it coming!

7. Four Funerals by David Bell

A haunting; the aftermath of a school shooting. Very well done.

8. The Unknown Pleasures by Susie Young

I think this is about how obsession can take on a life of its own, and how hard it is to live in our own skins sometimes.

9. Weekend at Bertie’s by ML Rio

I really looked forward to this one because of If We Were Villains, one of the best books I read this year. Two characters cut from the same creepy, ambitious cloth –kind of an enemies to allies thing.

10. The Professor of Ontography by Helen Grant

This scared me the most. I can’t get rid of the image from the last scene. Well done!

11. Phobos by Tori Bovalino

Fantastic twist. This is my favorite story.

12. Playing by Phoebe Wynne

Very Shirley Jackson, another of my favorite stories.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book to read and review.