Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for gifting me a copy of this gripping Audio ARC. In exchange for a copy of The Divines, I offer my unbiased review.

They called themselves The Divines. A group of posh young girls attending an English boarding school. These girls are awful, truly nasty to their teachers, peers and the local townies. They torment each other, showcasing the worst qualities in young girls. Recalled by Josephine, now a new mother, she is still unnerved by the trauma experienced while attending St. John’s of The Divine Boarding School.

Although this book is very unsettling, difficult to care for any of these vile girls, I could not stop listening to Imogen Church, as she brilliantly narrates this disturbing story. Part coming of age, part mystery/ psychological thriller this debut is compulsive.

I was impressed by author Ellie Eaton’s ability to weave the current scandal surrounding Larry Nassar into this story. I’m surprised how deeply this story held my attention. I’m excited to see what Ellie Eaton writes next.

I'm attracted to any book with a comp to Normal People in the description, but I'm finding this is one that gets thrown around a lot lately given the massive success of Normal People. In this case, I didn't really get the comparison. This is very much a female boarding school, coming of age story, and overall it wasn't really my cup of tea. There's also something deeper here though too, which doesn't really reveal itself until towards the very end and this is where this book really shines. While the entire book examines an adolescent past, the end is what makes you question our memories. How accurate are own memories of the past? This is the question this book leaves you with.

To be Divine, well, that meant everything to them. Attending the elite boarding school meant so much to them, their mothers having also attended. Meant so much…until it didn’t.

The Divines is the debut novel from Ellie Eaton and follows two parts of one character: Josephine both in her thirties as well as her teens. We first join Josephine on her honeymoon where she finds herself near the school she attended for part of her school years. While walking by to look at it, she learns that the townies still have strong opinions about the Divines, even fifteen years later. Realizing this, our protagonist begins to reminisce on that time in her life, a time when the girls went by male names, when friendships were more complex than they should be, and when, right before St. John the Divine closed its doors for the last time, a terrible thing happened to one of the girls.

This is not an easy book to review. The audiobook is narrated by Imogen Church, one of my favorite narrators, and she does a wonderful job bringing Josephine/Jo to life. But frankly: Jo is not a great character. I don’t have a problem with this — I love a book with unlikeable characters. However, it is nice to have at least one character you are rooting for and, frankly, there aren’t a lot of characters I found myself teaming up with. I feel like some of the more minor characters did not deserve what was given to them and having some closure with one, in particular, would have been nice.

Told in two parts, we get to hear about The Divines as Jo remembers that time. There are things, though, that do not add up, making the reader believe that maybe Josephine’s memory isn’t the best for telling this story. There are things we never find the true answer out about, which can be frustrating. In between the flashbacks we have Jo in the current. Newly married, working as a freelance journalist, trying to start a family. Josephine is obsessed with her past and cannot part from it, keeping items in a box that she brings out constantly to stare out while thinking of the past, looking up old schoolmates online.

While I understand the reasoning behind the duo-perspective, the back and forth did not work for me in the way it was written. I found myself enjoying the past much more than the present, until the end when the present ended up back at that school. I had all about given up on this book until the end happened. At the end of the story, Josephine attends a reunion and gets back in touch with some old friends. Hearing them discuss their memories of different situations in the past had me really re-thinking a lot of her story. While this book ended up not being for me, I greatly enjoyed the ending, something I’ve noticed in other reviews some readers have not enjoyed.

Ellie Eaton really put her all into this debut and I look forward to reading from her again. The writing was beautiful, but it was just lacking something for me. I think anyone who enjoys reading stories with that dark academia aesthetic, with discussions of toxic friendships and how your youthful decisions can come back to haunt you, may find this book words for them.

Major thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, HarperCollins, for the ALC copy. I received this copy free for review. All thoughts are my own.

Eaton’s literary boarding school debut has it all: pretentious, snobbish, viscously cruel teenage girls. Drama, drugs, alcohol, smoking, and sex. However, this is not your typical boarding school story. Eaton takes us on a wild ride into the psychological world of dark academia with her extraordinary writing skills.

In The Divines, we follow our narrator, Josephine, in alternating chapters as she recalls and processes who she was, what happened all those years ago, and how it all shaped her into who she is. It’s like a complex character study where Eaton focuses on just how tenuous our memories are.

What I liked: Eaton’s incredible writing and how she addresses the negative effects of elitist education by having Sephine (this is the name Josephine goes by in her adult life) send her Mother an article about Boarding School Syndrome, which is very real and includes anger, depression, anxiety, failure to sustain relationships, fear of abandonment, etc.

What I didn’t like: It just really dragged on for me, and this is with me listening to the audiobook version narrated by my absolute favorite narrator (and I listen to a lot of audiobooks, folks), so it’s not that. It could just be that I wasn’t in the right headspace for it with all that’s going on right now.

If you like mean girls boarding school trope, and like literary fiction, you’ll probably like this one. If you don’t like more complex reads, and the obvious boarding school trope, then it's probably not for you.

With how “The Divines” starts, you would suspect that there is going to be a really interesting and dramatic backstory in the protagonist’s high school past. However, that drama never really materializes. The novel was vaguely interesting, but the flashbacks fail to adequately connect to the present. It’s an alright book with some racy storylines, but I failed to really understand the “why” behind this story. I was excited for this one, but it’s just a 3 star ⭐️ rating for me. Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy.

The Divines by Ellie Eaton is a fascinating novel about Josephine, a 30-something newly married professional still haunted by memories of the actions of herself and her vapid, cruel classmates as teenagers. The novel is told in dual timelines during Josephine's time in boarding school in England and present day as a nomadic married woman. The writing was very good and I liked the ruminations about our own behavior and the lengths we go to fit in as teenagers and how our formative years stay with us. This book is filled with unlikable, selfish, entitled characters, so it was frustrating at times how awful and oblivious they could be. I liked the ending, but it offered limited resolution and left me with questions about some of the characters. Imogen Church excellently narrates the audiobook. I sped up the narration, so it was perfect and really kept me intrigued, so I binged this in 3 days.

Thank you Harper Audio and NetGalley for providing this audiobook ARC.

The Divines takes you on a ride between present day and a snobby boarding , St John's the Divine school in Britain, where the author uncovers the story of what happened to one of the young women from the school. Josephine, the main character in our story left her life of being a "Divine" what feels like a million lifetimes ago and yet, she cannot let go of her last roommate, the most unpopular girl in the school, Gerry. This young woman haunts her memories, and brings her to constantly look her up and think about that last year at the school, so much so that it is interfering in her present day. Now, she finds herself with an invitation to a school reunion, bringing her past into even sharper focus.

The characters came alive through the voice of Imogen Church, who I already loved from so many other books I have listened to. Unfortunately, for this listener, the book dragged on some. I wanted to love it, and I certainly did not dislike the book, but I was not captivated as I would have liked to be. Still, I needed to know what happened with Gerry and where all of Josephine's memories were leading her to, and I was truly surprised by some of the twists in the novel.

Thank you to Harper Audio and Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to this book in exchange for my honest review.

“You’re not still worrying about that silly article you sent me ages ago are you? Boarding school..what not.” “Syndrome,” I say...“Utter drivel,” she says.

The girls of St John the Divine, an elite English boarding school, are coming of age in a cut throat environment that examines just how awful females can be to one another. They smoke, chase boys, harass their teachers, and fancy themselves divine indeed. When a tragic accident shuts the school down for good, how will their time as “divines” shape them in adulthood?

Having gone to boarding school myself, I am a sucker for any book set in one. It brings me right back to my high school years and I love to read about what people think boarding school is really like. I laughed as they talked about “townies,” as this is a real thing and it’s exactly what we called the kids that lived in town. But that’s where the similarities ended. These girls were AWFUL. I imagine these types of bullying situations exist, but wow.

I enjoyed following Josephine’s story, told in a dual timeline between her boarding school days and her married adult life. It is refreshing how openly and honestly periods, sex and an adolescents changing body are portrayed. I am sure many women can relate to Josephines letdown after her first sexual encounter (thinking is that it? and ouch!), as this is NOT how the first time is portrayed to us in the movies, amiright ladies?

Imogen Church narrates this audio book and she does a great job. I just love her accent! She really gives Josephine’s character life. You can feel the emotion in her voice and, if I’m honest, I could listen to her talk all day 🥰.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Audio for this audio ARC in exchange for an honest review. Publication date January 19, 2021.

The Divines lives up to it's title. The switch between past and present keeps reader engaged and interested in Josephine's (Jo) life and the trajectory of events. It was interesting to see how Josephine changed from her boarding school days to the modern day narrator that the reader comes to love. Even during her time as a Divine, it was interesting to see how she was different from her schoolmates and her willingness to befriend an outsider. The need to find out what happened to Gerri Lake propels the narrator and the plot along. The ending was surprising but in a good way.

Ahhh what an intensely unlikeable cast of characters! I usually really enjoy books set in boarding schools but this one didn't do it for me. I didn't like the narrator but I don't think it's because she isn't good. I think it's because I didn't like the main character.

Also, the whole giving all the girls a boy name was often confusing.

I was excited about this one; the synopsis was intriguing enough to make me submit a request.

Unfortunately, I only listened as long as I did (which, to be honest, wasn't very long - which is why I'm not adding a review to my goodreads; it wasn't long enough for fair feedback) because of Imogen Church, the narrator. I didn't realize she was narrating this one when I requested it, and I recently listened to her read Ruth Ware's One by One and though the book was okay, the narration surely pulled me through to the end.

This one felt a lot like what was essentially a YA packaged to adults, as it cuts to the protagonist as an adult, but ultimately remains a YA (a field in which I sometimes find gems, but wasn't what I was expecting when I signed up for this one). I couldn't find reason to retain interest in any of the characters, then or now, unfortunately.

Mean girls at boarding school. Goodness this one will make you not want to send your kids off to boarding school where the girls are horrid to each other. But for some reason, you won’t be able to stop reading- what happened to Gerri, just what exactly is going on. It’s an excellent story about how childhood trauma can effect ones sense of identity, memories, and so much.


I have to say the narrator Imogen Church is one of my favorites and she did an excellent job here. Well done!

I had great expectations walking into this book. I walked out severely disappointed. What was the point? What was learned? Who changed? So much of this book was extremely uncomfortable and most descriptions were unnecessary. I was very uneasy for most of this book and I truly didn’t enjoy it. It was not only uninteresting but truly had me furrowing my brow at some points. I especially could not get behind the fat shaming and the descriptions of sex scenes and body parts. I love the idea of the plot but it ended up being entirely different than what I had hoped. Do not judge a book by its cover, because the cover is stunning but the book is not.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: eating disorders, childhood trauma, bullying, gay panic, also wouldn't recommend to people with tokophobia

After many days of forgetting my earbuds at home and suffering in silence at work, I finally finished this! It was driving me BONKERS that I didn't finish this sooner. The whole mystery of what happened to Gerri Lake (please correct me if I spelled her name wrong, I didn't have a physical copy) kept me strung along through this narrative. It felt a bit long and dry at times, but the narrator really has a way with painting a picture with the words the author provided. I would love to see them work together again in the future! In some parts of the story were so well crafted, I could almost smell the cigarette smog and pre-teen/baby slut body spray. But in typical fashion of my reviews, my general thoughts include: Gerri didn't deserve this shit, Skipper sucks, Josephine sucks but grew so much on me, and I JUST WANNA KNOW HOW LAUREN IS, MY POOR BABY. Finally, I didn't realize that there would be graphic, embellished descriptions of pregnancy and childbirth. As someone who is horrified of the idea of pregnancy, this didn't do it for me and I really wish I could have skipped through it, but due to it being an ALC copy, the chapters weren't clearly separated/marked.

I wanted to love this book after reading the description. I listened and found the accents made the story much more enjoyable. This was one I definitely had to use headphones to listen as there is some colorful language and descriptions. I only got 25% into the book and had to stop as the situations are not something I can read about. It began leaning towards sexual abuse of young girls and descriptions of situations that the predatory coach would use. As a teacher and a parent, it is just something I have a difficult time separating reality from and causes too much anxiety and sadness. I know many will love the kitschy descriptions and varying timelines, I just was not able to continue. From what I read, there is some great character descriptions and settings, but it was too much for me. While I don't find it fair to judge a book because the story line was too much for me, I will be basing the star rating on the characters, dialogue, and setting. Thanks for the opportunity to review it.

The Divines are the girls of St. John the Divines, an elite English boarding school. The Divines were famous for their hair flipping, chain smoking and harassment of teachers. Josephine, now in her thirties, spent five years at the school and receives an invitation to the upcoming reunion of former students of the institution that was closed in disgrace with her graduating class. Now married with a daughter of her own and living in California, Josephine is undecided on whether or not to attend. She hasn’t even spoken to any of her former classmates in fifteen years. The invitation evokes a strong need, however, to reflect upon her time as a Divine. The story is told from multiple timeframes - as a student, as a newlywed and the present. As the memories surface , Josephine’s life begins to change: she begins having difficulties with her marriage, she can’t concentrate on her work and most importantly her self identity is challenged.

I enjoyed reading this book. The character development was excellent. I appreciated the insight Josephine gleamed from others when they spoke of how she was perceived while at school. Where the book excels to me, however, is in observing Josephine’s personal insight into her true identity as the book progresses. On a more critical note, while I found the antics of The Divines were at times humorous, there was also evidence that some of these girls could be unkind to the point of bullying. The way they treated the staff and town’s residents was abhorrent, strongly suggestive of a pretentious upbringing likely fuelled by their time at the school. As a result, I found the characters were not likeable - a must have for me in order to be fully invested in a book. Additionally, the story felt a little long in parts and I found myself wanting to return to Josephine’s current storyline.

I listened to the audiobook edition of the book which was narrated by Imogen Church who gives a very good performance. I appreciated her ability to voice several characters and found her pacing to be excellent. I listened to the book at my usual 1.25x speed which I found to be comfortable. I would not hesitate to recommend the audiobook format to those readers who enjoy this format.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Audio for the ARC of this audiobook in exchange for the honest review provided here.

The Divines is a compelling story of a woman as she revisits her boarding school past and slowly unravels. Eaton writes sharply about, among other things, friendships, sexuality, and class divides between "The Divines" who attend St. John the Divine boarding school and the nearby "townies". Overall, the book is an interesting look at how our pasts shape who we are and how we think about our past, present, and future.

This was not necessarily an enjoyable read, but I do not think it is supposed to be. I really enjoyed the coming of age story and the overarching theme how our perceptions and memories of a childhood experience changes as we grow into adults.

I love a boarding school novel and this one has all the drama and angst. The divines are a group of girls who attend an exclusive private boarding school and personally have all the privilege associated with this. Despite this privilege, the girls are full of insecurity and cliques and the sort of problems common to teenage girls.
The protagonist, Josephine, is especially uncomfortable in her own skin, having difficulty seeing in herself what others see. Her roommate is an outcast who was a figure skater, which separated her from the other girls. A tragic event happens close to the time the school is merging with another, rival school.
The story is told with a dual timeline, alternating between the school days and years later when Jo is an adult, married and a mother. Her relationship to her past is much more important to her current life than she realizes.
I enjoyed the story, although there were characters who would have been fun to know more about following their time as students. I really enjoyed Imogen Church as the narrator. She adds an additional atmosphere to the story.
Fun read. 3/5 stars
#TheDivines #NetGalley #ImogenChurch #HarperAudio

Ellie Eaton has written a fine debut here. I was incredibly compelled by the story at hand and found all of the characters insufferable and haughty, in the way that self-important teenagers and adults are. While some folks may consider that a turn-off, I found it awfully entertaining. You're not meant to like anyone here, and once you accept that and strap yourself in for the ride, it's a fun time.

I really appreciated the fact that the book explores how we construct narratives around our pasts, making ourselves important and central in moments where we are neither. We create versions of ourselves, over and over, to suit our needs and the needs of others. The Divines at the center of the novel have been told that they are supreme, in big ways and small ways, for their entire lives. As such, they are awful people in adolescence and adulthood. They have made themselves into madonnas as the rest of the world looks on, bewildered. They are deluded. That's a fascinating starting point.

Imogen Church is a spectacular narrator; in a book about class divides, Divines and townies, she carries the differentiating voices and tones incredibly well. If you want a posh voice in your ear for several hours, serving you a maddening main character — to say the least — absolutely go with the audiobook. You won't be disappointed.

However, there are issues here, hence the rating. For one, the structure of the novel is a big failing. I don't think the portions of the book that were set in Jo's adulthood were necessary to the narrative the majority of the time (until the two time periods more clearly intersected at the very end, really). It felt like I was receiving superfluous information about her marriage and professional life, humdrum details that the average reader would not find interesting. It feels as if the split between timelines was an attempt to make the construction of the story more complex, rather than the split being in service of the larger plot. It may have seemed less intriguing if the novel had been more straightforward and had mostly or entirely been from teenage Jo's point of view, but I believe it would have been stronger for it.

Additionally, Jo's friendship with Lauren — a large portion of the teenage parts of the story — is not resolved at all in her adulthood. This is a bit perplexing considering the culmination reached at the end of the earlier timeline. Lauren is perhaps the most likable character in the entire book, so it's disappointing to not have her appear at all in the later years. Because things are left completely unresolved, one wonders why this wrinkle was added so late in the book to begin with.

Lastly, there are some thriller elements at play in the book that I really don't enjoy. There's two "twists" of sorts. The first really affects your view of the story, and I imagine it'll really turn off some readers. I personally saw it coming, so it wasn't as much of a bother. What was, though, was the reflection on the event in the later timeline, because one character's reaction seemed so absurd. The second feels a bit cheap and highly unrealistic. It's as if this was aiming to be three-quarters literary, one-quarter light thriller/dark academia, which is a mix that doesn't work. Like the structural issues, I think this would have been a stronger novel if it had stayed in the literary realm.

I will warn anyone interested in this book that:

1) It is not dark academia. The characters give off a "think they're better than you, but are actually completely unremarkable to the point of dullness" sort of air. There are no conspiracies, no large mysteries. Don't go into this with different expectations; you'll be disappointed.

2) As I've already stated, nearly every character in this novel is unlikable, in both timelines. If you need someone to root for while reading, this is not the story for you.

3) The teenage portion of the novel is set in the late nineties, which means that there are homophobic and fatphobic insults. The latter, in particular, come up quite a lot when describing a character. It's also worth noting that the teenage portions are still narrated from the main character's present perspective, and she doesn't comment on this at all; in fact, it almost seems as if she agrees with the sentiments.

I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Ellie Eaton's work in the future; I think she has a deft hand and the potential to write a story that's perfect for me.