June 2, 2026 by Chicken House
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Faye Fitzgerald has had a good life with her father while they were living out in the woods in 1932, but when the two had to move to the city to be with her Aunt Christina when her father struggled with issues related to being in the Great War, things did not go well. She's not sure exactly what happened, but seems to remember an axe and screaming. Now, she is being shunted off to a school on the remote Auk Island because she is "wicked". The school is run by Dr. and Mrs. Lightbody, who is called Nurse Violet, and has a small population of troubled students who are locked into their rooms at night to protect them from each other. The children are also give blue "vitamin" pills, and one of the first activities in which Faye and fellow passenger, American Boudicca Braithwaite, have to participate is a funeral for another student, Filiberto. Other students include Evie, Archie, and Lord Gordon, who is rumored to have killed his own brother. There are no trees on the island, which is hard for Faye, who really enjoys nature, and Faye soon uncovers the dastardly curriculum of the school, which seems to focus on removing "wicked" children from their families... and eventually eliminating them altogether! When she finds that Filiberto is actually still alive and living in hidden places in the school, the two team up to try to break loose from the Lightbody's. How can they possibily succeed?
Strengths: One of my own favorite books in middle school was Lois Duncan's Down a Dark Hall, so a mysterious school on a secluded island where the children are mistreated would have been one I would have enjoyed! Faye isn't quite sure why she is considered so wicked, and doesn't quite believe that her fellow students are, either. Boudicca in particular is a great character, and her brash insistence that she won't do unpleasant tasks gets her in trouble, but not before she puts up a fight. The setting is a character on its own, and Auk Island has some troubled history that Faye's father had studied. The post WWI setting is interesting, and boarding school stories have a lot of fans. The cover is absolutely fantastic, and I wanted to poke around the school (parts of which were a former abbey) myself!
Weaknesses: I'm not sure that Gothic mysteries will resonate with my students. When the Lemony Snicket books were popular twenty years ago, I might have purchased this, but perhaps this will resonate more with a British audience.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who want to sink into a Gothic mystery like Gemeinhart's Scar Island, Walker's Ash House, or Carter's The Winterbourne Home for Vengeance and Valor.
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