Something happened thirty years ago at Highfield Manor, Dublin's exclusive private school, that impacted the lives of several of the students, but none more than that of Louise Manson. Lou, as she was called, was not a child of privilege as many as her schoolmates were, but she did make friends. Or so she thought. There was one girl in particular she was drawn to, but that relationship became disastrous. Now, thirty years later Lou had rebuilt her life. She was now a professor, married and had a daughter. A phone call from an attorney telling her he needs her testimony. The reason? He needs her testimony regarding the events of three decades ago. Going public would threaten everything she held dear. Would she risk it?
WHEN WE WERE SILENT, by Fiona McPhillips, is told in dual timelines. Readers first meet Lou as an adult, but it is the teenage Lou that we really get to know. She is an intriguing protagonist. The daughter of an alcoholic mother whom she took care of, she is smart, intuitive and savvy. She knows who and what she is. She also knows what is right and what is wrong and that is what led her to the events of that fateful night thirty years ago.
This is a complex and dark story. Well plotted, the author skillfully guides readers through the narrative and the story unfolds with perfect pacing. The past events had never faded away. If there was ever a time for the truth to be told, it is now. Will anyone finally do it? The answer to that is in the surprising conclusion.
Well written and engrossing, WHEN WE WERE SILENT, is well worth reading. Highly recommended.
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.
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