School for Girls

A spooky feminist novella . . .ideal for Halloween!

Deep in the forest, a remote boarding school echoes with unspoken stories…

A boarding school deep in the forest carries the echoes of its past inhabitants. Hints of a disturbing history and the unfolding events of the present are refracted by the multiple voices of the girls who now live within its walls, their suggestive and enigmatic accounts interweaving in a rich and unsettling chorus.

PRAISE FOR SCHOOL FOR GIRLS

“A choral piece with gothic undertones. With an impressive multiplicity of forms, this book tackles a wide variety of themes, underpinned by a strong feminist voice.” (Benoît Vanbeselaere, Les Libraires magazine)

“A whole troupe of poisonous young girls, neither demonized nor deified, appearing in all the fragile ferocity of adolescence.” (Laurence Perron, Lettres québécoises magazine)

“. . . dark, fraught, frightening in places. And one to read in a single sitting.” (Silvia Galipeau, La Presse newspaper)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ariane Lessard was born in 1990 in Lévis, not far from a monastery of cloistered sisters. She published her first novel, Feue, in 2018, which was a finalist for the Rendez-vous du premier roman, a first novel award. She also took part in the first residency of L’Hôtel des autrices in 2020, a feminist digital platform created in Berlin during the pandemic, in which she wrote a novel in one month. School for Girls is her first novel to be translated into English.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

Frances Pope is a translator and writer from the UK. She lived in Montreal between 2015 and 2020, where she received her MA in translation studies from Concordia University. Now living in Bristol (UK), she continues to translate in the arts and non-profit sectors, as well as reviewing and writing about electronic music. Frances has two published collections of poetry, Quarters (Ekstasis Editions) and The Brazen Forecast (Cactus Press), both published in 2020.