The End of the World

An ironically dark academic novel set in a troubled English girls' school in the 1980s.
Having fled Scotland after a humiliating family scandal, sixteen-year-old Ida receives a scholarship to an all-girls boarding school located on the remote southern coast of England. Ida hopes that St. Anne's School can become a refuge for her. Just as she is starting to settle in, a new teacher arrives. The girls desperately want to know everything about him – after all, why would an attractive young man come to such a remote place? One of the teachers is convinced that the new colleague is not who he claims to be. Suddenly, a mysterious illness spreads through the school – the students keep having strange seizures. What is happening to the girls at St. Anne's School? Are they pretending? Or is someone poisoning them? And the young teacher, who is he – a liar and a villain?
Masterfully combining the sweet atmosphere of a girls' school and the eerie mystery of "The Secret History" with the delightful humor of "Derry Girls," Rebecca Wait's new novel is a truly witty masterpiece.