Madam is about a young teacher, Rose, who takes a position teaching Classics at an elusive yet elite girls boarding school in Scotland. As Rose starts her employment, she begins noticing that things are “off”. For instance, all female teachers are referred to as Madam at the school rather than using names. She also has a difficult time getting her students to listen or care about her course, despite the risqué material she presents each class. She is repeatedly told by her students that there is no point in learning. Hmmm...As I started this book, I was sucked in, curious, wanting to know more...

As the plot progressed, it became evident that Greek mythology was weaved into the narrative as symbolism. This classic literature, taught by Rose to her students, typically involved scorned and abused women who used violence and destruction to regain their sense of empowerment. I thought it was successful as a lead up for what was to come, but also distracted from the story at hand. It felt disconnected. The plot was unexpectedly dark, and at times, repulsive, as it delved into heavy themes. But again, these themes felt disjointed and out of place, detracting from the story rather than adding to it.
I also thought the pacing was way off. Much too slow and drawn out for my likes. The characters could have used way more colour and depth. They reminded me of cut out paper dolls, all the same. I kept confusing who was who.

Although this book didn’t work for me, there are other higher reviews that I would encourage readers to check out.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Phoebe Wynne created a beautifully atmospheric novel that shows that not everything is as it seems at the prestigious boarding school where Rose Christie has started teaching. Wynne mixes Greek mythology into the story as a bit of a cautionary tale with some foreshadowing.

I REALLY enjoyed this. Whether I was in the perfect mood for it, the story resonated enough to stay incredibly fascinating, or the book was just really well-written, I just can't decide! This book was "Handmaid's Tale" (by Margaret Atwood) meets "Stepford Wives" (by Ira Levin) then gets suuuuper twisty and gothic and perhaps even a bit of "Bunny" (by Mona Awad) thrown in. I loved the tragic Greek heroine stories tacked onto the ends of many of the chapters, as well. This just felt like a really great tool to hold the comparison of how classic Greek literature treated women and how this school was treating all of the girls in the school, as well as the staff. The book was the perfect length for me, pulling me along not quite sure how everything was going to reveal or play out, with Rose's resilience, both mental and physical, being put to the test constantly.

I will say that this book is more intellectually thrilling, in a classic Gothic fiction way, than anything close to mystery/thriller that some seemed to expect. Prepare to go into this deliberately and end up appreciating gender roles and Greek literature while also being FREAKED OUT by what this school is successfully doing. So glad I read this!

Free will. It gets taken for granted and sometimes just taken. This interesting story seeped in feminism incorporates pieces of classical literature and female role models to balance out the archaic systems women are still fighting. Well done tale of the struggle to overcome oppression in a rather unique plot situation.

Madam by Phoebe Wynne is a read that intrigued me from the summary. The summary does nothing compared to the full story itself. Madam is a very unique story, and I could not stop reading this book. Imagine yourself being sought out by a very prestigious, elite, and classic school like Caldonbrae, Scotland to teach young girls and help shape their future. As the saying goes, if sounds to good to be true then it must then it is, too good to be true.
I loved the characters in Phoebe Wynne's book, even the ones you are suppose to not like. The story line and plot of the story was a unique one for me and one I loved. The second reason why I loved Madam was it makes Rose push out of herself, her comfort zone, and how far she is willing to go against this perfect and elite school. Another reason why I loved Madam was Phoebe's choice of characters names.
Thank you Beatrice Jason from St. Martins Publishing Group for for sending ne an ARC e-book thru Netgalley. I truly, truly enjoyed this book.

This was such a disappointing read for me. If I was not reading it for review, I honestly would have DNF’d it about 50% of the way through. I could probably rant on this for a while, but I will try to keep it short and to the main points that bothered me.

Trigger Warnings: Gaslighting, grooming, child abuse, pedophilia, sexual harassment, racism, suicide, homophobia, misogyny, sexism.

This book is described as “feminist”, but I see nothing feminist in it. Our main character (MC), Rose Christie, is often described by her students and the author as being a feminist but she continually rebukes this idea. She goes along with the very misogynist ways of her new school (sometimes complaining about the backwards nature of it all) but she never takes action against the system nor does she leave. She does, however, constantly tell us that her mother is a “raging feminist” and would take her to protests and bra burnings when she was little. This seems to be all talk and no show though as not once does her mother act in a feminist manner, usually chastising Rose when she tries to talk to her about her concerns with her new job.

Throughout the narrative we do get many stories about empowered women in Greek/Roman history and mythology (our MC being a Classics teacher). These characters fight against their husbands/fathers/social norms for what they believe in and this is mostly where Rose’s students get the idea that she is pushing a feminist agenda. The stories did bring a nice touch to the narrative that I felt was lacking and did push some of the students to push back on the expectations that were being forced upon them. This was the only redeeming quality of the book in my opinion.

Many of the scenes that contained the trigger warnings I listed above were explicit and made my skin crawl. These included things such as a sex scene between a student and a teacher, and the MC’s incessant descriptions of the female students’ outfits being tight and showing off their growing busts.

Overall, these book left an icky feeling in the pit of my stomach and I would not recommend it.

Madam is a slow burn Gothic mystery. The eerie atmosphere adds to the constant unease and tension. What is really going on at Caldonbrae Hall? Things are not always as they seem at this very prestigious boarding school. This story is suspenseful, unsettling and disturbing. The terrifying truth is shocking with a jaw dropping conclusion. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my ARC.

This was a weird read. It takes place in the early 1990’s but comes across as an older gothic tale. The setting and language, along with the entire premise of the prestigious girls’ school, appears so out of sync with the timeline of 1992 and references to the music and movies of that time. The main character, Madame (teacher) Rose is worthless upon discovering the true mission of the elite school she had felt so privileged to have obtained a position at. She was truly pathetic and hysterical in much of her behavior. The addition of the classic mythology stories was odd, but I guess it was supposed to depict the injustices to (and strength of) women? The story was slow moving and the ending was pretty awful. Still, I couldn’t put it down and had to finish!

I had lowered by expectations going into this book because some people did not enjoy it. I loved the atmosphere of the setting and the creepy vibes of the elitist boarding school. This is a story centered around a young teacher named Rose who was invited to become a Classics teacher at Caldonbrae, an elite boarding school in Scotland. From the start, she is not sure why she was singled out for the job but ultimately decides it would be a great opportunity for her teaching career.
Rose moves to Scotland from England and has an apartment on the campus and does some duties monitoring one of the dorms. Creepy things start to happen early in the story, with the prior Classics teacher’s departure and mystery surrounding this. In addition, the girls at the boarding school, who are mostly from wealthier and prestigious families in the UK, are leveled with the upper girls seemingly unconcerned with taking their A levels or attending university. They also have done very little earlier work in Latin or Classics reading. Rose has a rough time and then is accused of touching a student that she doesn’t really know and an investigation into this ensues.
The story develops into a dramatic ending, although I do see why people disliked the ending. It seems a bit of a let down after the whole story leading up to it. It resolves the story but seems simplistic compared to the remainder of the story.
I listened and read the book. The narrator, Nathalie Buscombe, does a great job creating the atmosphere and the nuances of each character. I would definitely recommend this narrator and enjoyed the book.
#Madam #NetGalley #StMartinsPress #MacmillanAudio

I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would! Classics teacher Rose Christie finds herself hired by the historical Caldonbrae Hall for Girls. Weaving her knowledge of mythology and strong historical women into her daily lessons, she becomes aware of an underlying thread of brutality and subjugation in this well renowned school. Very well written with empathetic characters. Rose is a true heroine and will find strength she did not know she had. Recommended reading.

I haven’t loathed a book this much in a while. Madam spends the first half going in circles teasing the reader about what’s really going on in Caldonbrae Hall, but when you finally find out what the deal is, it’s a terrible letdown. The teasing tone of “I know everything & you know nothing” is the tone I hate most in books. It makes for a frustrating, unpleasant reading experience. The second half, once you know what’s really happening, is disturbing & creepy, but not in the fun way that makes you want to keep reading.

There was a lot about this novel that appealed to me - its Gothic feel, the setting in Scotland, and an exploration of a secret world of privilege that operates both in and around the 'real' world. The author captured a good level of mystery and creepiness in the writing, characters, and setting. The ability for otherwise 'normal' people to go along to get along was believable in why the main character, Rose, met colleagues at Caldonbrae Hall who were complicit in an outdated scheme that is inherently anti-feminist, and fought back in her own subdued way. As a Classics teacher, Rose introduced the students to ancient women and goddesses - Dido, Medea, and Medusa to name a few - that modeled a different form of womanhood. Where the plot fell flat was in its momentum, predictability, and what appeared to be an occasional inclusion of events simply to liven things up. I kept expecting a twist to pull strands of the novel together in an important way and was disappointed when that didn't emerge. Overall, the novel was enjoyable, albeit slow.

I think this will be one of those novels that readers will either love or hate. Sadly, I'm in the latter camp. Generally, I like books about those old semi-Gothic private schools, but this was an exception. For one thing, I found it to be a slogglingly slow read, and for another, it seemed to be anachronistic. The story is supposed to be taking place in the 1990's, but it seemed more appropriate to the 1890's.

Briefly, the plotline is about a young classics teacher (Rose) who gets a "too good to be true" position at a Scottish boarding school for daughters of the rich and influential. Rose is the first new hire in over ten years, and her predecessor is shrowed in mystery. The girls in her class are all strange, and none seems to be focused at all on gaining knowledge. The other teachers are also strange. Right off the bat, I would have been out the door, but not Rose. She stays, keeps trying to inspire her students, and to make friends with some of the other teachers. Obviously, there is something deeply wrong going on at this school, and Rose will soon find out what.

The only thing I liked about this book were the passages about Greek mythology, specifically women of Greek myth. But unfortunately, that was all I can find to praise.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me an eARC in exchange for my honest review. I wish I had liked Madam better.

Most of us know what it's like starting off in a new place and experiencing the thrill of excitement and change, however there is also that fear of will I be accepted and can I fit in to make a life here? Madam is a novel that explores all of this in a creepy, isolated setting that has all the elements of asking, "what the f*ck is going on?"

This book was so slow! I wanted to read it so much, I loved the idea of it and the setting and I wanted to solve the mystery so much but it was such a slog I just couldn't get through it. It's not like it was slow to build suspense or to devote time to character development or setting, it just didn't go anywhere. If I ever manage to finish it I might update my review but I have other things to read and I can't give this book anymore time right now.

Madam by Phoebe Wynne is a gothic historical mystery/thriller set in a boarding school on the Scottish cliffs. Of course with my love of creepy boarding school thrillers I thought I would love this one but unfortunately as the saying goes we can’t love them all.

Rose Christie is the first new teacher hired at the elite Caldonbrae Hall in over a decade. At 26 years old Rose is proud to be the new head of the classics department but stepping into the halls of Caldonbrae Hall Rose quickly begins to see not all is as it seems inside Caldonbrae Hall.

Picking up Madam I quickly started thinking that the story was not what I expected I was going to get and sometimes that is perfectly fine but not so much here. This book reminded me a lot of a young adult fantasy I read a few years back and I really enjoyed that one but this one seemed to take the same concept and make me dislike it. I really didn’t enjoy the characters in this and the story seemed to drag on with the dark material that was probably supposed to shock a reader actually just feeling dull and lifeless since I couldn’t get engrossed in this one.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This is one of those books that is super secretive, promising a huge reveal, and then when the secret is revealed it's not really a secret. The school is presented as a complete anachronism with hideous standards, but there isn't anything illegal about what they're doing. Any institution can turn out semi-educated teens with good manners, though that institution would never hold a world-class reputation without sending talented graduates onto university. Just a button-pusher for current women, this school would not have a real standing in 1993. Silly.

This one ended up not really holding my attention at all. I loved the synopsis and was hoping I would be sucked into the book but I found that I kept putting it down. The time period the book is supposed to be set in seemed off, the book was very slow and there was an abundance of Greek mythology that just didn't fit the story.

Madam by Phoebe Wynne is a gothic mystery with a creepy and menacing feel to it. I really liked it! Rose is young teacher and is shocked when she gets hired at Caldonbrae Hall, a girl's school near the Scottish coast in an old castle. They rarely hire anyone new and Rose jumps at the chance. When she arrives she finds out all may not be well at Caldonbrae. And what happened to the teacher whose place Rose took? You'll have to find out! This book had such an atmosphere of menace and claustrophobia about it. The story is one that won't soon leave my mind. You should definitely read this if you like gothic tales. Thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Rose Christie was excited about the prospects of teaching Latin at Caldonbrae Hall, a prestigious school for girls in the wilds of Scotland. With her mother suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, the offer from Caldonbrae was a welcome relief, as one of her benefits was that the school would pay for her mother’s care. Once Rose arrived at Caldonbrae, however, she found herself trapped in an antiquated system, one that carried many secrets within its ancient walls.

Rose and the others were pretty much at the mercy of the Headmaster, as the story is set in 1992, and the options for communication in such a desolate area were few. Still, the emphasis on keeping the school’s true purpose secret, and the students’ seeming agreement to their fate, bothered me. I don’t want to leave any spoilers, so I won’t say anything else about Caldonbrae Hall and their teaching methods. Rose is critical, somewhat naïve, but somehow manages to awaken the intellectual curiosity of several of the girls with her stories about women from ancient Greece and Rome. The girls were, for the most part, arrogant, and the other instructors had basically sold their souls. Maybe that’s how an English boarding school is – I don’t know. In any case, Madam was not one of my favorite reads for the year.