NAACP Image Award nominee!
Mean Girls meets Dear White People in this bighearted, sharp-witted young adult UK boarding school story about family, friendship, and belonging—with a propulsive mystery at its heart.
Within the walls of Wodebury Hall, an elite boarding school in the English countryside, reputation is everything. But aspiring photographer Iyanu is more comfortable observing things safely from behind her camera.
For Iyanu’s estranged cousin, Kitan, life seems perfect. She has money, beauty, and friends like queen bee Heather. But as a Nigerian girl in a school as white and insular as Wodebury, Kitan struggles with the personal sacrifices needed to keep her place—and the protection she gets—within the exclusive popular crowd.
Then photos from Iyanu’s camera are stolen and splashed across the school the week before the Valentine’s Day Ball—each with a juicy, scandalous secret written on it. With everyone’s dirty laundry suddenly out in the open, the school explodes in chaos, and the whispers accusing Iyanu of being the one behind it all start to feel like déjà vu.
Told from dual POVs, each girl is desperate to unravel the mystery of who stole the photos and why. But exposing the truth will change them all forever.
At Wodebury Hall, who can you trust when everyone’s thinking it?
- Boarding School Mystery: Reputation is everything at Wodebury Hall. But when scandalous photos are leaked, aspiring photographer Iyanu and her estranged cousin Kitan must find the real culprit before they both lose everything.
- Social Hierarchy & Cliques: As one of the few Nigerian girls in an elite, white-washed school, Kitan knows the sacrifices it takes to stay in the popular crowd. But is keeping queen bee Heather happy worth losing herself?
- Blackfishing and Identity: A sharp-witted exploration of race and belonging that tackles the nuances of colorism and the performance of Blackness in predominantly white spaces.
- Coming of Age Story: Told from the perspectives of two estranged cousins, this novel explores the meaning of family, friendship, and finding your voice when everyone is trying to speak for you.