Five Recommended Novels Set at Schools

Plus: Book Club sign-up and Open Bar ARC cover

My upcoming novel Open Bar (available August 12) centers around a high-profile sexual misconduct scandal at a prominent university, and last week I did an interview with Law & Crime about these types of investigations.

In the past couple of years I’ve read some great novels that take place at educational institutions. Below are five that I recommend. I’d love to hear your thoughts if you’ve read any of them, and please add other interesting school-based books to the list in the comments!

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

My Dark Vanessa tells the compelling and disturbing story of a teenager’s relationship with a manipulative teacher, and the ongoing consequences over the next two decades. I’ve seen a lot of the same concerning themes of grooming and power dynamics in investigations I’ve conducted, and this novel presents these issues in a highly authentic and engaging way.

Bunny by Mona Awad

Maybe more than any novel I’ve read recently, I’m dying to discuss this book with someone, but I don’t personally know anyone who has read it. If you have, please let me know! The main character is attending a prestigious MFA writing program, and begins to learn that others in her fiction writing cohort are engaged in some very unorthodox behavior. I’m not usually into magical realism, and I don’t want to reveal any spoilers, but if you’re looking for a novel unlike anything you’ve read before, Bunny is it. And I can’t wait for the sequel that’s coming in September.

My Last Innocent Year by Daisy Alpert Florin

My Last Innocent Year vividly depicts college life in the late 1990s and the complexities of understanding and confronting sexual assault and inappropriate relationships at a time before current sexual misconduct policies and education on campuses. You can listen to author Daisy Alpert Florin discuss how she created this intriguing novel on my Title IX podcast.

Bad Habits by Amy Gentry

Bad Habits is a fast-paced psychological thriller about a young professor at an academic conference who runs into a woman with whom she had a deadly rivalry as a grad student. A revealing look at the high-pressure competition to succeed in academia, and much more.

All’s Well by Mona Awad

All’s Well is another great Mona Awad novel, this one about a college theatre director overseeing a performance of Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well while she’s dealing with chronic back pain, a failed marriage, a deepening dependence on painkillers, and a cast that insists on performing Macbeth instead. Shakespeare meets John Sarno in a story I really wish I had thought of first.

ARC Cover for Open Bar

Last week I received the full cover for the Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of Open Bar. An ARC is a pre-published version of a book that’s sent to reviewers and book buyers in advance of publication, and it’s exciting to see Open Bar getting closer to publication. The actual ARCs should be in people’s hands in the next few weeks.

First Book Club Meeting

Our inaugural Book Club (Zoom) meeting will be on Tuesday, April 22 at 7:30pm ET. Registration is now open here. We’ll discuss Counting Backwards by USA Today bestselling author Jacqueline Friedland, and she’ll be Zooming in to the meeting to discuss her latest book and answer your questions. You can get Counting Backwards anywhere books are sold, such as here and here.

Hope you can join us for this first meeting, and feel free to invite others!

Final Table Q&A

In an upcoming Substack I’ll be answering reader questions about Final Table, so please comment with any questions you have (or send them to me directly), and I’ll be happy to answer!

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