First published 2014
Senior year at St. Joan's Academy pushes everyone to the breaking point. Colleen Rowley watches college applications pile up while her classmates compete for valedictorian and decode cryptic texts from boys. Then Clara Rutherford, the school's reigning queen bee, breaks down in the middle of class with uncontrollable tics. The strange affliction jumps to Clara's inner circle, then spreads through the student body. Girls develop seizures, lose their hair, and suffer violent coughing attacks. Rumors fly through the halls of the Danvers, Massachusetts school. Parents demand answers. Media trucks arrive. Everyone searches for a culprit: environmental toxins, academic pressure, or elaborate deception. Colleen reads The Crucible for extra credit and begins to see a pattern others miss. The mystery forces her to confront what's really happening to the girls around her.
Genres: mystery, contemporary, psychological-thriller, academic
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: Danvers, Massachusetts, St. Joan's Academy
Period: Senior Year
402 pages · Hardcover · G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Content warnings: mental-illness