I was a little unsure of this novel going in but this year I have enjoyed several books with a haunted type mansion but the idea of another boarding school book I was still unsure.

Either way, I started reading. Rose is a teacher raised by a feminist mother who suffers from MS.

She is offered the chance to teach at the prestigious Caldonbrae Hall, a boarding school in Scotland.

Rose soon realizes all is not what is appears at Caldonbrae. the students speak different and she soon realizes the school offers an education of a different kind- arranged marriages!

Overall, I enjoyed the book and I always love books set in different locations for their atmosphere and vibes it creates. The 1990s also gave it a different feel which I enjoyed.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advanced ebook copy. I probably wouldn't have picked up this book without the publisher but I'm glad I did.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of Madam.

I was intrigued by the premise and was thrilled when I was offered an opportunity to read Madam early.

In 1993, Rose Christie is a young, 26-year old Classics teacher raised by her feminist widower mother, who is suffering from MS.

When she is offered the opportunity of a lifetime to teach the privileged and elite student body at Caldonbrae Hall, a prestigious boarding school in Scotland, her hesitation is overwhelmed by gratitude and that she is on an ambitious path in her academic career.

But all is not well at Caldonbrae; there are hints of something amiss at this formidable school, clues her young students offer, the way they speak, how little they know about the curriculum itself and seem not to care about the doors education will open for a young woman.

To make matters even creepier, her colleagues seem to know more than she does, and Rose soon realizes Caldonbrae is offering education of a different kind.

I really wanted to like Madam very much, but it was not to be.

First, there's very little character development for anyone, including Rose. She comes off as a naive character, despite her mother's strong, feminist values. When she discovers what Caldonbrae's true curriculum is really about, she goes off the rails, which is understandable but how can she not truly grasp the influence of the school, even after her mother was placed in a new hospital without her knowledge?

Second, I guessed Caldonbrae's mission very early in the book, possibly because arranged marriages is nothing new in my culture or I've read so many books with 'twists' I can usually guess them before they happen.

There are definitely hints of The Stepford Wives in Madam, yet the difference between Madam and Stepford is that the wives were deprogrammed in the latter, whereas most of the student body in Madam seem to be fine with their future as wives of the elite and powerful. People have gotten married for less.

Third, Rose's predecessor, Jane, and her failed tenure, was brought up as a reminder to Rose not to step out of bounds and know her place in the social pecking order, yet Jane's presence did not feel like it was used as effectively as it should have been.

This includes the student who was obsessed with Jane, and later Rose. I'm still not sure what the purpose of this disturbed student was. Yes, to create havoc and stress for Rose, but it felt contrived.

Caldonbrae is touted as a school with strict rules and guidelines so wouldn't management have silenced the student before her antics got out of hand? I understand the point was to throw Rose off her game but the whole scenario felt forced.

I did love the 1990s setting, Rose's references to movies from that time period, and the fact that there were no cell phones or social media really set the mood and tone of isolation.

The description of the Scottish cliffs and moody atmosphere added to the sense of segregation, a form of quarantine (apt for our current circumstances) where Rose felt alone and cut off from her mother, and had no friends or allies at Caldonbrae.

Sadly, I did not find this as dramatic or suspenseful as I had hoped, nor did I relate to any of the characters, including Rose.

The writing is good, but the narrative, at times, dragged and felt longer than it should have been, in my opinion.

I think many readers would enjoy this and I look forward to reading the author's next book.

I must admit I read this in one sitting, pulled along by the mysteries that were slowly unveiled. This is a modern gothic novel—which doesn’t read like a debut novel—with elements of the The Stepford Wives, a satirical thriller written in the early 1970s by Ira Levin in which a young mother who suspects the compliant one-dimensional housewives in her suburban neighborhood are robots constructed by their husbands. There are no robots in Madam, but lots of suspense.

Caldonbrae Hall, a girls’ boarding school was built on top of the ruins of an old Scottish castle and rides high above the rocky cliffs. The reviews of the school are always spectacular, and the school purports to graduate women who are ready to serve society—but only the upper crust, naturally. To this exalted place comes Rose Christie, a classics teacher just twenty-six years old. She is the first new hire in the school in over ten years. She’s overwhelmed at first, feels inept, and wonders why she was chosen for such a prestigious academy. She also wonders what happened to the woman she replaced.

The school’s polished veneer is founded on a traditional culture that hasn’t changed in the 150 years the institution has existed. Rose, raised by a bra-burning feminist mother and an intellectual father (also a teacher), struggles to balance her middle-class upbringing with the rituals of the upper class school. Eventually, Rose must confront the darkness of Caldonbrae which is slowly revealed (trying to avoid spoilers here) and determine whether or not she can fit in and perpetuate its heinous motives.

I received a copy of Madam in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.