I was lucky enough to win a copy of this on Twitter, thank you to Georgina Moore @PublicityBooks for my proof.
SYNOPSIS
We were always The Four. From our very first day at High Realms.
The four scholarship pupils. Outsiders in a world of power and privilege.
It would have made our lives a lot easier if Marta had simply pushed Genevieve out of our bedroom window that day. Certainly, it would have been tragic. She would have died instantly.
But Marta didn’t push her then, or – if you choose to believe me – at any other time. If she had, all of what we went through would not have happened.
I’ve told this story as clearly as I could – as rationally as I’ve been able, in the circumstances, to achieve. I don’t regret what we did. And I would do it all again.
MY THOUGHTS
What a debut novel this, I was hooked from the first page and couldn’t put the book down except for when I needed some sleep, even then I got up again to read a bit more. If you are into Dark Academia this is one for you. A story of friendship and how far you would go for a friend. Set in an exclusive boarding school known as High Realms in Devon. The Four are, Rose, Marta, Lloyd, and Sami. They have all four been awarded scholarships to attend the school. All four are excited at this opportunity they have been given, because if they get the grades here they could go to any of the top universities in the country. But all is not as great as they had hoped, they are faced with hostility, contempt and more by some of the fee paying pupils. Who feel that they shouldn’t be at the school. But the four manage to bond and be there for each other, no matter what. They are all highly intelligent Marta probably being the brightest, but this is the first time she has attended a school, having been home taught previously.
What happens at High Realms will define the rest of their lives, losing the innocence they arrived with, Marta is especially vulnerable and most of her problems of hatred and cruelty come from Genevieve mostly.
The more you read the darker the story becomes, some of the things these four have to face should not be faced by anyone. The tension continues to build as you turn each page wondering what is going to happen next, how much more can the four take. I felt myself feeling so sorry for the four, it seems there was no one they could trust no one but each other to confide in. They were on their own.
What becomes truly hard is when a popular girl has an accident and Marta gets the blame, but Marta runs and hides afraid she will be banished from the school, which would also mean she would have to go home to her father which is the last thing she wants. She loves the school and her friends. In order to protect Marta the other three find somewhere for her to hide, this leads to a lot of difficult decisions. The tension is built even more as the mental health of the characters begins to be affected.
The characters explore their sexuality, the story is an emotional rollercoaster, as they go from one dilemma to another, each part getting darker and the tension being ramped at each event that happens, just when you think things can’t get any worse something else happens. The pace is fast, the story is told by Rose initially I did wonder how reliable she was as a narrator, but as she told the story it became fairly clear she was telling things as they happened through her eyes, obviously with no other versions the reader has to take her version as gospel. I felt out of the characters Rose was the best to be narrating, she told the story with tenderness, even the heartbreaking and devastating to read parts, that really hit you hard.
Even as the characters divulge something, you feel like they have more to tell that they are still holding back in some way. Some of their decision making may not have been the best but these are still young adults. Making the decisions they believed to be right, although there were times I was willing them to do something different. But despite the occasional disagreements between them these four remained friends, all they really wanted at times was to be loved. Each of them had their own stories.
This is a brilliant immersive, dark atmospheric read, gripping, and engrossing throughout a definite ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read and a terrific debut. I look forward to see what Ellie Keel writes next.
Jackie’s Reading Corner 