This book occurs at a creepy boarding school...very atmospheric indeed !! It was full of twisty turns and unexpected delights. A thrilling little gem of a ride. I was on the edge of my seat. The character development could have been better but I still enjoyed it.

I was provided a digital copy of Madam by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

As a big fan of mysteries set in boarding schools, I was prepared to enjoy this book and I have to say I was not disappointed. Rose Christie has been offered a job as a department head at the prestigious Caldonbrae Hall, a private girls’ boarding school in Edinburgh. The school hasn’t hired outside of its ranks in decades; Rose is their first new hire which is both suspicious and exhilarating for the young Latin teacher. It’s also a greater amount of money than she ever expected which will allow her to continue paying for her mother’s care as her multiple sclerosis symptoms intensify.

Initially Rose is rather taken with Caldonbrae, affectionally referred to as Hope in honor of its founder, but she finds immediately that she does not quite fit in. She finds herself stumbling over the students and bungling her conversations with the other staff, all of whom are referred to simply as Madam or Sir. However, as she struggles to settle in, Rose starts to ask questions about the curriculum and the way the girls are expected to behave. She finds that the atmosphere in general is oppressive and the girls devoid of individual thought. The longer she stays at Hope, the more Rose wonders if she’s made the right decision until one of the girls opens up and lets one of her secrets slip. Suddenly Rose knows she needs to get out but is it too late?

I finished this book in the space of two days and quite enjoyed its twists and turns. The plot shifts as well as the ending were unexpected and enjoyable, the author working them in carefully and thoughtfully. However, the inclusion of the original Greek myths and their lengthy explanations detracted greatly from the reading and did not add enough to the story to warrant being included. As well, it is important to note the heavy and unexpected inclusion of sexual themes and descriptions in the book.

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.

I don't know why bit this book just didn't grab me. The writing seems fine and while I haven't tried this author before the blurb drew me in but for some reason I just couldn't connect. I blame this on the stuff going on right now not the author. I may try to read it again but for right now this is a dnf for me.

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.