"Rebecca meets The Secret History: gloriously dark, gloriously Gothic." ––Sara Collins, bestselling author of The Confessions of Fannie Langton
Discover
the secrets of Caldonbrae Hall in this riveting, modern gothic debut
set at a secretive all girls’ boarding school perched on a craggy
Scottish peninsula.
They want our silence…
They want our obedience…
Let them see our fire burn
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.