By: Fiona McPhillips
Narrator: India Mullen
ISBN: 9781250332097
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Publication Date: 05/21/2024
Format: Audio
My Rating: 4.5 Stars (ALC)
An outsider threatens to expose the secrets at an elite private school in this suspenseful debut novel for readers of My Dark Vanessa and Dare Me
Louise Manson is the newest student at Highfield Manor, Dublin’s most exclusive private school. It seems nearly perfect: the high arched window alcoves and tall granite pillars, the overspill of lilac at the front gate and the immaculate playing fields, the giggling students, the dusty, oak-lined library, and the dark, festering secret she has come to expose.
At first, Lou’s working-class status makes her the consummate outsider, though all that changes when she is befriended by the beautiful and wealthy Shauna Power. But Lou finds out that even Shauna is caught up in Highfield’s web, and her time there ends with a lifeless body sprawled at her feet.
Thirty years later, Lou has rebuilt her life after the harrowing events of the so-called “Highfield Affair,” when she gets a shocking phone call. Ronan Power, Shauna’s brother, is a high-profile lawyer bringing a lawsuit against the school. And he needs Lou to testify.
Now with a daughter and career to protect, the last thing Lou wants is for Highfield Manor to be back in her life. But to finally free herself and others, she has to confront her past, go to battle once more, and discover, for once and for all, what really happened at Highfield. Powerful and compelling, When We Were Silent is an unputdownable, thrilling story of exploitation, privilege, and retribution.
My Review
Fiona McPhillips, an Irish journalist, author, and screenwriter, wows readers with her debut WHEN WE WERE SILENT. This compelling, raw, and emotionally dark academic thriller tackles some difficult topics with sensitivity while keeping the reader captivated by the intersecting past and present storylines.
What happens behind this elite school's walls, especially the female athletes and their predator swim instructor?
The Audiobook...
I listened to the audiobook narrated by the talented India Mullen for an intense and spellbinding performance!
NOTHING SPEAKS LOUDER THAN REVENGE.
About...
Set in Dublin, Ireland, there is an elite Catholic private school for the wealthy and privileged.
Louise Manson is neither wealthy nor privileged and lives in the poor section with her single alcoholic mother.
PAST 1986: Lou attends school on a scholarship, and at age 17, she rides her bike to attend Highfield.
Her former best friend, Tina, an accomplished swimmer, also attended as a scholarship student. However, her life ended after suicide and pregnancy. The two friends shared their secrets, and Louise knew what had happened and was ready to prove it. She is determined to seek justice for her friend, even if it means putting herself in harm's way.
Lou hatches a plan to publicly expose McQueen that ends in someone's death. She is an outsider and does not fit in with the other students except Shauna. She is beautiful and rich. Then Lou finds out that Shauna is caught up in a web of deceit of Highfield.
Maurice McQueen is the evil PE instructor and swim instructor at the school. He fancies himself and likes to use his power over the female students.
Lou is unfortunately molested by him. She reports him, and no one believes her. No one could even imagine this teacher doing anything like this. What happens to her during this time changes the trajectory of her life.
30 years later, PRESENT: Now a grown woman, she has tried hard to put the past behind her and her traumatic past. With a loving partner and a teen daughter, Louise is a literature professor at Dublin's Trinity College. She is thriving and a published academic.
Shauna's brother, Ronan, an attorney, reaches out to her about another abuse case at the school on behalf of a 14-year-old suing Highfield for the cover-up and abuse in the school and the swimming club over decades. Shauna, who may also hold the key to the truth about that fateful night.
Of course, she is unhappy about reliving the past buried events and time, which would interfere with her current personal and professional life. What should she do? Can she expose those traumatic events to save someone else? Will she stay silent?
Alternating between Lou's past and the present with a teen daughter of her own to protect and also a keeper of secrets. She is when she wants to try out for the swim team.
Thoughts...
WHEN WE WERE SILENT IS INTENSE. Fully immersive, the author dives deep into the powerful, emotionally charged, and essential topics of #MeToo, feminism, trauma, abuse, class, privilege, mental health, feminism, exploitation, and retribution.
Compelling, the writing is outstanding. Part domestic, psychological thriller, literary, suspense, and legal with riveting courtroom scenes. Hauntingly beautiful, powerful, timely, topical, and thought-provoking— about the dark side of academia as long-buried secrets are unraveled.
If this is a debut, I cannot wait to see what is coming next from the new voice in fiction. For fans of Lauren Nossett, Tana French, David Bell, Ruth Ware and My Dark Vanessa.
Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an advanced listening copy for an honest opinion.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating; 4.5 Stars
Pub Date: May 21, 2024
Praise
“Searing. . . McPhillips deftly alternates between past and present, maximizing suspense by playing multiple mysteries in each timeline off one another. . . This is a triumph.”
―Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Auspicious debut alert: Fiona McPhillips’ When We Were Silent is the strongest first novel I have read in ages.”
―BookPage, starred review
“A thought-provoking novel of suspense steeped in dark academia. . . This powerful story takes the reader on an emotional roller-coaster ride filled with twists and turns and dangerous predators. Pitch the dark academia, retro setting, and social justice undertones.”
―Booklist
“Angry, accomplished. . . Arresting.”
―The Times (UK), Best Thrillers of the Month
“I LOVE a great literary psychological drama. I devoured this debut, a lovechild of Tana French and Patricia Highsmith that’s also totally original. Absolutely brilliant!”
―John Boyne, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and All the Broken Places
“Fiona McPhillips captures the claustrophobic nuance of teenage loyalties, lies and privilege on every page. A twisting, turning dive into a web of long-buried secrets, When We Were Silent marks Fiona McPhillips as one to watch.”
―Jane Harper, New York Times bestselling author of Exiles
“A chilling psychological character study. . . Strongly written, compelling, and dramatic.”
―Deadly Pleasures
“Gripping, intelligent, assured - and devastating.”
―Catherine Ryan Howard, bestselling author of 56 Days
“Fiona McPhillips breathes new urgency into the private school thriller with this tale of justice delayed. . . McPhillips infuses her story with deep sensitivity and righteous fury, for a compelling and thought-provoking read.”
―Crimereads
“With a dark and poetic pen, Fiona McPhillips snakes through the waters of a tony private school, peeling away secrets in tiny waves until they crash into a powerful ending. This book absolutely nails what it feels like to be young, female, powerless, and dead set on redemption. A wonderful, relevant, and beautifully written debut.”
―Julia Heaberlin, bestselling author of We Are All the Same in the Dark and Night Will Find You
“Such a compelling read - it's brave, dark, and thought-provoking, fast-paced with several twists that completely surprised me, and the writing is fantastic.”
―Kristen Perrin, bestselling author of How to Solve Your Own Murder
“‘Derry Girls’ meets My Dark Vanessa in this compelling debut. Fiona McPhillips has woven a story that is compulsive, tender and chilling in its familiarity. I was hooked all the way through, and had an enormously cathartic sob at the end! One of the most compelling books I've ever read.”
―Jessica Bull, author of Miss Austen Investigates
“When We Were Silent is powerful, moving, enraging. . . I cared PASSIONATELY about the characters here.”
―Marian Keyes, internationally bestselling author
“A stunning debut – beautifully written, tender and poignant, but pulls no punches. A powerful, unforgettable read.”
―Andrea Mara, #1 internationally bestselling author of No One Saw a Thing
“Taut, compelling, powerful and devastatingly relevant. A sensational debut.”
―Louise O’Neill, internationally bestselling author of Asking For It
“I raced through this spellbinding, gripping thriller about scandal and secrets at a prestigious girls school. It’s gripping, shocking and enraging, a story of lost youth, redemption and the power of speaking out, and it’s so beautifully written.”
―Cressida McLaughlin, author of From Cornwall with Love
“A heart-pounding, gripping, fury-inducing, all-consuming emotional rollercoaster of a story.”
―Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things
“I devoured Fiona’s book. . . Such achingly beautiful, lyrical writing. It’s no mean feat to develop a teenage character of such depth and complexity, and I was utterly enthralled by Lou’s journey. The prose was at once defiant, vulnerable and deeply compelling. I found myself holding my breath so many times and the slow burning rage of Lou’s voice gripped me throughout.”
―Natalie Chandler, author of What We Did
“Amazing and powerful. . . Brilliantly written, compelling and harrowing in equal parts. Absolutely loved it. You don't want to miss it.”
―James Oswald, author of All that Lives
“An urgent and suspenseful read that asks important questions about consent, agency and complicity. It will keep you gripped.”
―Katie Bishop, author of The Girls of Summer
“Fiona McPhillips’ suspenseful debut is a taut, beautifully written exploration of the burden of guilt and grief and the scarring effects of misogyny, abuse, and long-buried pain. When We Were Silent, with its poetic prose and unsettling tension, strikes the perfect balance of discomfort, despair, and ultimately, hope.”
―Ashley Tate, author of Twenty-Seven Minutes
“If you enjoyed My Dark Vanessa, this is definitely one for your TBR. Phenomenally tense and very, very well written.”
―Elle Machray, author of Remember, Remember
About the Author
photo credit: Ruth Maria Murphy
Fiona McPhillips is a journalist, author and screenwriter. Her debut novel, When We Were Silent, which was runner-up for the 2021 CWA Debut Dagger Award, was pre-empted by Transworld (Penguin) in the UK and Flatiron (Macmillan) in the US and will be published in May 2024.
Her prose has been published in The Manchester Review, Barren, Litro and elsewhere and her poetry has appeared in Atrium, Headstuff and The Galway Review. Her screenplay Windmills was a finalist at the 2020 New Renaissance Film Festival in London and the Waterford Film Festival. She is the recipient of a 2021 Arts Council literature bursary.
Fiona started her writing life in music, then jumped to sport. With children came a freelance career, and she wrote features for The Irish Times, The Irish Independent, The Herald, The Huffington post and other publications. She’d always talked about writing a novel… one day. In 2019, it was time to piss or get off the pot and she did an MA in Creative Writing at DCU, graduating with first class honours.
She is a reader for the wonderful Forge literary magazine.
Fiona is represented by Rachel Neely at Mushens Entertainment. WEBSITE
留言