A LESSON IN VENGEANCE
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“★ – With queer primary characters, an irresistible gothic atmosphere, and unrelenting creeping dread, this propulsive work of dark academia is both thrilling and thought-provoking.” – Publisher’s Weekly, starred review
“★ – This twisty, immersive thriller is about the fine line between passion and drowning in the darkness of obsession.” – BookList, starred review
“★ – …Devastatingly poetic…Teens will be as haunted by this narrative as the characters within its pages.”—School Library Journal, starred review
“A layered, stylized, brooding mystery that will draw readers in.” – Kirkus
* A New York Public Library Fall 2021 YA pick *
Felicity Morrow is back at Dalloway School.
Perched in the Catskill mountains, the centuries-old, ivy-covered campus was home until the tragic death of her girlfriend. Now, after a year away, she’s returned to graduate. She even has her old room in Godwin House, the exclusive dormitory rumored to be haunted by the spirits of five Dalloway students—girls some say were witches. The Dalloway Five all died mysteriously, one after another, right on Godwin grounds.
Witchcraft is woven into Dalloway’s history. The school doesn’t talk about it, but the students do. In secret rooms and shadowy corners, girls convene. And before her girlfriend died, Felicity was drawn to the dark. She’s determined to leave that behind her now; all Felicity wants is to focus on her senior thesis and graduate. But it’s hard when Dalloway’s occult history is everywhere. And when the new girl won’t let her forget.
It’s Ellis Haley’s first year at Dalloway, and she’s already amassed a loyal following. A prodigy novelist at seventeen, Ellis is a so-called “method writer.” She’s eccentric and brilliant, and Felicity can’t shake the pull she feels to her. So when Ellis asks Felicity for help researching the Dalloway Five for her second book, Felicity can’t say no. Given her history with the arcane, Felicity is the perfect resource.
And when history begins to repeat itself, Felicity will have to face the darkness in Dalloway–and in herself.
More Praise for A Lesson in Vengeance
“A Lesson in Vengeance is at once dark and mesmerizing, with spine-tingling suspense and mind-bending twists. I loved it.” — Kara Thomas, author of The Cheerleaders and That Weekend
“Darkly radiant and brilliantly wicked, A Lesson In Vengeance is a sharp dissection of queerness, ambition, and the forbidden luster of the occult. This book will posses you from first pages to its haunting final words.” — Ryan La Sala, author of Be Dazzled and Reverie
“A smart, layered, thought-provoking thriller about female desire and the intimacy of violence.” — Ava Reid, author of The Wolf and the Woodsman
“A Lesson in Vengeance is the witchy boarding school story I always knew I wanted; a gorgeous take on the complicated bonds of female love and friendship, told in lyrical, creeping prose as haunting as the tale itself. The ghosts of Felicity, Ellis, and Alex–and of Dalloway School and its historical witches–will linger with you long after the final page.” — Lana Popović, author of Blood Countess and Wicked Like A Wildfire
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