The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette's

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Three starred reviews!

An all-girls school is struck with mysterious cases of screaming hysteria in this gripping, perceptive (Booklist, starred review) dark academia young adult thriller haunted by a deeply buried history clawing to the light.

For over a hundred years, girls have fought to attend St. Bernadettes, with its reputation for shaping only the best and brightest young women.

Unfortunately, there is also the screaming.

When a student begins to scream in the middle of class, a chain reaction starts that impacts the entire school. By the end of the day, seventeen girls are affectedalong with St. Bernadettes stellar reputation.

Khadijahs got her own scars to tend to, and watching her friends succumb to hysteria only rips apart wounds shed rather keep closed. But when her sister falls to the screams, Khad knows shes the only one who can save her.

Rachel has always been far too occupied trying to reconcile her overbearing mothers expectations with her own secret ambitions to pay attention to school antics. But just as Rachel finds her voice, it turns into screams.

Together, the two girls find themselves digging deeper into the schools dark history, hunting for the truth. Little do they know that a specter lurks in the darkness, watching, waiting, and hungry for its next victim

Reviews

Alkaf uses Malaysian supernatural elements to good atmospheric effect; even better is the sensitive, riveting portrayal of the girls inner lives. United, their voices become a blunt instrumentbut one wielded with great skill and efficacy.Bulletin of the Center for Childrens Books (starred review)
Praise forThe Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadettes

* Alkaf successfully uses the oppressive mood and ominous hauntings to convey real-life terrors, from sexual violence to societal expectations, that keep young women from being heard. A gripping, perceptive read.Booklist(starred review)
* Piercing observations into the teens struggles gaining autonomy are explored alongside sensitively wrought instances of trauma and sexual violence via immersive prose.Publishers Weekly(starred review)
A perceptive examination of trauma and its manifestation on womens bodies, minds, and voices.Kirkus Reviews

Author Bio

Hanna Alkaf is the author ofThe Weight of Our Sky,Queen of the Tiles,The Girl and the Ghost,Hamra and the Jungle of Memories, andThe Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadettes, as well as coeditor of the young adult anthologyThe Grimoire of Grave Fates.She graduated with a degree in journalism from Northwestern University and has spent most of her life working with words, both in fiction and nonfiction. She lives in Kuala Lumpur with her family.