ONE OF LIT HUB'S TOP CRIME NOVELS OF 2023

'A haunting story . . . will stay with me long after reading' ELIZABETH LEE, author of Cunning Women

'Completely engrossing. Unforgettable!' MARTHA CONWAY, author of The Physician's Daughter

The young women at Mount Holyoke College are famed for their beauty and virtue - except for Agnes and Bertha. With their strange dresses, scholarly pursuits and intimate friendship, these two students are considered peculiar.

One autumn morning, Bertha is spotted in the woods. Then she vanishes, leaving Agnes to wander the cold university halls alone.

While a search team dredges the pond where Bertha might have drowned, a private detective arrives in town and an investigation ensues, sending shockwaves through the university and the quiet town of Killingly.

Bertha might be gone, but she left behind secrets. Secrets which are beginning to surface, threatening to put her best friend in mortal danger and shatter the peaceful world of Mount Holyoke forever...

A gothic, turn-of-the-century campus thriller about female desire, rage and ambition in the face of convention and patriarchal control.

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EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT KILLINGLY:

'A story of women who defy strict rules' KATE MANNING, author of My Notorious Life

'A superb novel, suffused with dread' ELIZABETH MCKENZIE, author of The Dog of the North

'Extraordinary fiction' JULIA PHILLIPS, author of National Book Award Finalist Disappearing Earth