When We Were Silent
The gripping dark academia revenge thriller you won't be able to put down
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- USD 12.99
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- USD 12.99
Descripción editorial
Discover the dark boarding school psychological thriller, an exploration of power, corruption and retribution, perfect for fans of Girl A, My Dark Vanessa and Anatomy of a Scandal.
*Irish Times 'Best Crime Books of 2024'*
'Excruciating suspense' Stephen King
‘One of the most compelling books I've ever read…compulsive, tender and chilling’ Jessica Bull, author of Miss Austen Investigates
‘A powerful, unforgettable read’ Andrea Mara, bestselling author of No One Saw A Thing
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“I’m not here for prestige. I’m here for revenge.”
Lou Manson is an outsider when she joins the final-year class at Highfield Manor, Dublin’s most exclusive private school.
Beyond the granite pillars and the wrought-iron gates is a world of wealth, privilege and potential.
But Highfield is also hiding a dark secret – and Lou is here to expose it.
When she befriends the beautiful and talented Shauna Power, her plans are thrown into turmoil. Speaking out against the school would mean betraying Shauna, and Lou soon discovers that the Highfield elite will go to any lengths to protect their own reputation . . .
. . . Even when the consequences are fatal.
Thirty years later, Lou is called to testify in a new lawsuit against Highfield. But telling the truth means confronting her past.
And there is one story she swore she’d never tell . . .
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Praise for When We Were Silent:
‘I love a great literary psychological drama. I devoured Fiona McPhillips's debut, a lovechild of Tana French and Patricia Highsmith, but also totally original. Absolutely brilliant!’ John Boyne, bestselling author of The Heart’s Invisible Furies
'A twisting, turning dive into a web of long-buried secrets' Jane Harper, internationally bestselling author of Exiles
'Utterly amazing . . . Powerful, moving, enraging' Marian Keyes, Sunday Times bestselling author of Rachel’s Holiday
'This book absolutely nails what it feels like to be young, female, powerless, and dead set on redemption' Julia Heaberlin, author of We Are All The Same in the Dark
'This suspenseful novel perfectly captures teenage intensity and anguish' Guardian
'Tense and unsettling' New York Times
'Taut, compelling, powerful and devastatingly relevant' Louise O'Neill, bestselling author of Idol
'Full of twists, turns and dark secrets' Reader review
'A beautifully written, compulsive read' Reader review
'Secrets, scandal, elitism, lies, memories, abuse, love, loss . . . This book has it all' Reader review
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A Dublin Catholic school's culture of silence proves deadly in Irish journalist McPhillips's searing debut novel. In 1986, 17-year-old Louise Manson enrolls at the prestigious Highfield Manor to avenge her best friend Tina, who got pregnant and killed herself after being repeatedly raped by Maurice McQueen, the school's gym teacher and swim coach. McQueen promptly molests Lou, but when she reports him to school authorities, nobody believes her. Desperate and furious, Lou hatches a plan to publicly expose McQueen that ends in someone's death. Thirty-plus years later, Lou—now a married professor with a teenage daughter—has worked hard to move past "the Highfield Affair." When an attorney asks her to testify on behalf of a 14-year-old suing Highfield for the "systemic cover-up of abuse in the school and the swimming club over decades," she reluctantly agrees. Then someone tries to extort her into staying silent, prompting Lou to again take matters into her own hands, with shattering results. McPhillips deftly alternates between past and present, maximizing suspense by playing multiple mysteries in each timeline off one another. With the added urgency of Lou's first-person-present narration, the author wrings her powerful plot for maximum impact. This is a triumph.
