Madam was described as a modern gothic tale set in an old girls school. The only part that seems gothic is the setting. The plot was more of a social statement of gender roles and those who hold onto those of the past.

Rose being the first new teacher to be hired at the all girls school nicknamed Hope by it’s staff and students instantly knows there is something not quite right. The way the girls are treated by the staff and vice versa does not make sense. Sadly, it takes Rose a pretty long time to figure out what is really going on here. I think it takes the reader a lot less time. The rest of the book is Rose deciding what she will do about it.

I enjoyed the interweaving of mythology and the stories of women in the past. The connections between how women were treated in ancient Greek stories and history and the way they are treated now were haunting. Yes, the book is set in the 90s, but those who remember it may remember the feminism backlash of the times (similar to what we have seen in the last few years). The book points out the cycles in womens’ rights. I don’t think I realized how many of the stories I read and heard as a child revolved around the sexual assault of women and that is a whole nother level of distrubing.

I was less attached to the characters. Rose made really bad decisions pretty constanly. Every adult had the opportunity to help the students and failed. Every student seemed far to easily to accept that what they were experiencing was actually good. And they were too quick to mistreat each other. Some showed a bit of growth, but the trajectory was awkward in the telling.

Read it for the social commentary, not for the gothic feel. I didn’t feel it.

Caldonbrae Hall, or “Hope” to insiders, is a prestigious English boarding school on the craggy shores of Scotland for fine young women of prominent families. Rose Christie can’t believe her good fortune when she is hired to teach the Classics at the elite school. But Rose soon realizes that something sinister is going on inside these ancient halls. This book is DISTURBING, with an increasing sense of dread and horror as you read further along. Sure, this book has some plot holes, and I could list a few potential weaknesses but I didn’t care because this book is BONKERS and UNPUTDOWNABLE.
I was getting Handmaid’s vibes with brushes of Bronte and Austen. It’s EVIL and DARK but a true guilty pleasure.

I enjoyed the audio narration but it took awhile to figure out and identify each of the characters who were initially difficult to separate.

Thank You to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for gifting me this creepy AF gothic debut inspired audio.

It's hard not to be in sympathy with Rose our main character. The reader is thrust into the story the same way as Rose is thrust into Caldonbrae. Knowing little of what is going on...

I enjoyed the voice of the narrator, she has a pleasing tone and inflection and I thought she did a good job.

I enjoy a good gothic feminine thriller and the setting was perfect. The very beginning sets the reader on edge wondering what has happened...

The way Ms Wynne details the emotions of the charaters was done in a orderly way that was easy to follow and understand. The snarkiness of the girls in her first class/ lesson of the year was very believable and had me sympathizing with Rose from the get go.

For a debut novel I think it is good. I had trouble though really caring about the main character, the way the events plodded along it was a little too slow for my taste. But I will look forward to other titles by Ms Wynne. I'd be interested in seeing what else she crafts in her future endeavors.

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for the advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

Omg this book was dark and moody and horrifyingly good. I was hoping this wouldn't just feel like another boarding school book and it definitely didn't! This book was a beast of its own!

This one is hard to pin down. Rose, a classics teacher, is offered a place at a top girls school in Scotland. Titled and wealthy English send their daughters to Caldonbrae, more of an institution than a school. The school provides room and board, benefits, and even moves her ailing mother to a much better nursing home/rehab center. And pays for everything. But Rose starts to notice some very strange practices at the school; things that definitely don't jibe w/ how things are done in the real world in 1993. A very interesting premise and very shocking twists as Rose goes down a seemingly endless rabbit hole of her own personal values and the weird practices of the school. Very different from any other thrillers I've read in a while!

*Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early audio copy.*

Madam by Phoebe Wynne

Greek mythology is one of the many overriding themes of this story. The part where women are so brutalized and villainized that they are considered heroic for scorching their world and others with their own reign of revenge, brutality, violence, and death, is the part that Rose, a new Classics teacher at the celebrated Caldonbrae Hall, is most thrilled to teach to her female students. Rose seems to esteem and worship the women of mythology who murder others, including their own children. These lessons are taught by her in the name of feminism and glorifying empowered women, although this type of thinking is very at odds with the aims of the school. 

I am not a fan of abrasive Rose. I consider her to be naïve, lacking in common sense, and so unable to read a room that she'll yell and shriek at a room full of people who have threatened her and her loved ones with the most grievous harm. She is at times overly passive and at other times, overly hysterical. She has reasons to be hysterical but she seems to have no survival instinct to show her when she needs to hold her tongue and lash out at a more safe and appropriate time. She does this often, with no chance of making progress towards getting herself out of her dangerous situation. I was rolling my eyes at her right along with her disrespectful students. There are very few characters in this story who are likable and the story is so dark and some of the scenes so disgusting that it was hard to keep reading/listening to the story. 

Caldonbrae Hall is more than a girl's school. It's a wicked, all powerful, corrupt institution that pushes archaic, cruel existences onto the girls in it's grasp. There is more than a hint of Jane Eyre in this story but it's so heavy handed, and Rose is so dull minded in her actions and reactions to the situation, that the comparison fades. The story contains brainwashing, child abuse, gaslighting, grooming, pedophilia, sexual harassment, and so much more. It was all too much for me.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for this ARC.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy.

I really tried to give this book a chance but I was so bored. The narration was ok, but sometimes hard to understand. It just wasn't my cup of tea.

Rose is a young teacher, with only a few years of teaching under her belt when, out of the blue, she’s offered the position of Head of Classics at an exclusive girl’s boarding school. Caldonbrae is located in the remote wilds of Scotland, and the school is so exclusive that they haven’t hires any new staff in over a decade. Why would they hire a young, inexperienced teacher to be head of department? Rose soon discovers that the school has no intention of teaching the girls to take an active role in society after graduation, instead they are being groomed to be wives, mothers…..servants. Should Rose stay and try to help these young women or should she escape…..while she still can
I read this book first and found Rose to be both insipid and dim-witted. While her character isn't improved in the audio version, I found listening to the story much more enjoyable than reading it, thanks to the excellent narration