“Where Sleeping Girls Lie” is a marvelously creepy boarding school thriller

Longtime readers know a diverse, boarding school thriller is like catnip to your friendly correspondents. Which is why we were thrilled when "Where Sleeping Girls Lie", Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé's sophomore YA mystery, landed in our laps.

Newly-orphaned, British-Nigerian teen, Sade Hussein arrives at Alfred Nobel Academy after years of home-schooling. While she's not sure what to expect from this new environment, she definitely doesn't expect her roommate, Elizabeth Wang, to disappear after her first night.

When the school's administration doesn't seem to take Elizabeth's disappearance as seriously as they should, Sade and Elizabeth's best friend Baz start their own investigation. In the midst of this, a trio of girls, who Baz has nicknamed the "Unholy Trinity", have noticed Sade, and quickly bring her into their fold.

As Sade and Baz dig deeper, they discover secrets their elite school has tried to keep under wraps, and the lengths the administration will go to to keep their image.

We received review copies of When Sleeping Girls Lie from the publicity team at Feiwel and Friends. You can purchase your own copy here.

(Editor’s note: Before we officially start, we also want to note that we’ve switched newsletter providers to Beehiiv! Please feel free to forward this email to a friend or subscribe here.) 

Asha: I'm a sucker for a boarding school mystery of course, but I enjoyed this book! It kept me guessing

Lakshmi:  There were so many things about this book that were like catnip to us as readers! In addition to the creepy British boarding school setting, there are the clique-y mean girls, the mysterious clues from the bad people and -- perhaps best of all for me? -- I genuinely liked the way the book was structured in terms of the literal sentences and tone.

SADE HUSSEIN WAS USED TO being lied to.
When she was seven, she was told that the woman she saw sneaking out of her father’s room early in the morning was the tooth fairy and definitely not her nanny. When she was ten and she found her mother slumped back in the bathtub, unmoving, with a bottle of pills resting on the ledge—she was told that her mother was taking a very long nap and would wake soon. When she was fourteen, she begged her father to let her go to a normal school and make friends with real kids her age, instead of her only real friend being her maths tutor who let her sleep during class sometimes. She was told by her father that high school wasn’t what it seemed. That it was the furthest from the magic that the movies had led her to believe. But as the black town car pulled into the gates of Alfred Nobel Academy and the giant castle-like boarding school came into view, neither the rain nor the memory of her father’s warning could dull her excitement.

All of the chapters open with that same, ominous cinematic tone. It's so great.

Asha: It's very cinematic! I wouldn't be surprised if it gets optioned to be honest.

Lakshmi: Same, this would be a great 7 episode mini series.The world building and tight knit creepiness of this school is so convincing.

Asha: There's something about a closed environment like this one that lends itself to creepiness. Especially the rigidity – all students need to be in their rooms by 9pm, and lights out by 9:30pm, which is so early! These are high schoolers we're talking about!

Lakshmi: It's very old-timey!

Asha: I also like that the clique-y mean girls aren't actually mean girls...they seem to genuinely like Sade and even Baz. 

Lakshmi: Yes, the secondary characters had a depth that you don't often mind in this type of book-- because the reader is used to looking for 'good teens' and 'bad teens'. 

Asha: And there are definitely "bad teens" in this book, but not the ones you'd expect (and some of the ones you would).

Lakshmi: But weirdly, even with all of the rules, this school was extremely negligent when a student literally vanishes. I guess that's not that weird, but it's notable

Asha: I think because she's a scholarship student they don't know as much about her as they do the richer students, so they're quick to call off the search when it seems like she's fine. But it still seems weird that the police wouldn't do their due diligence.

We should also note that Sade is plagued by a ghost..

Lakshmi: Because of course she is!

Because there was so much tragedy and sadness in her early life it often feels like the ghosts are with her everywhere. 

Now that her mum was no longer here to calm the storm, her brain found other imperfect ways to deal with the dread. Sometimes she’d wake up screaming, her subconscious tortured by night terrors. Other times, she’d simply sleepwalk. Wandering around the house, searching aimlessly for an unknown thing. Mostly, though, it would just manifest in this. These misplaced anxiety attacks.

This was a really good description of the tumult inside Sade

Asha: Definitely. The author makes it so easy to feel what Sade is feeling

Lakshmi: Let's talk about the clues!

After Elizabeth disappears Sade is questioned and it's a terrifying experience (naturally). She's not sure if she is a suspect or if anyone believes her, but then she suddenly sees a box in her dorm room when she gets back.

THE BOX SAT OMINOUSLY ON top of Sade’s bed.
Still and silent, like it was watching her.
She half expected it to grow legs and chase her out of the room. Or worse, for it to start beeping and explode in her face.
But instead, it sat there, unmoving. Waiting to be touched.
Sade had watched enough spy movies and horror flicks to know that touching a strange box that had seemingly been left for you was always a bad thing. But still, she found herself moving slowly toward it until she was right in front of it.

There's that sharp voice again!

Asha: So creepy…

Lakshmi: Very! Also the clues were so complicated? I won't spoil them but there was a lot of deduction that needed to be done!

Asha: For sure. But they were exactly the kind of complicated you'd expect when you're dealing with rich, boarding school kids.

Lakshmi:  Which is exactly why we read these books!

Asha: It is. 
We should talk about the Unholy Trinity

Lakshmi: Yes, I love them. Also - what a great name for a clique!

Asha:  It IS a great name!

Lakshmi: As is the moment we see then walk into the dining hall!

“Who are they?” Sade asked Baz, staring at the girls, eyes drifting to the blonde with the brown skin and those 1920s finger waves in her hair. She looked as though she had stepped out from a painting—they all did.
“The wildly attractive girls who just walked in?” Baz asked, looking in the same direction as her.
Sade nodded.
“People call them a lot of things: she-devils, the wicked bitches of the west, and my favorite, the Unholy Trinity. Dramatic names, but pretty accurate if you know even a little bit about them. I heard that they get together on the weekends and perform demonic rituals in order to keep their skin blemish free.”
“Baz, don’t tell me you actually believe that,” Elizabeth said, giving him a deadpan expression.
“Hey, I’m a social anthropologist. I’m just reporting what I hear!” he replied, holding his hands up.

The trinity is diverse to boot! A south asian girl! A young Naomi Campbell lookalike! And then....Persephone! 

Asha: This is possibly the most diverse boarding school in the UK. Even the blonde has brown skin.

Lakshmi: Yes, I loved that.

Asha: Persephone seems more aloof than the other two, but she quickly becomes the one who Sade is the closest to.

Lakshmi: Aloof and beautiful is the perfect combo to draw vulnerable people in!

Asha: People love the mystery.

Lakshmi: 

“The blonde, scary one is Persephone Stuart. I heard that she once chopped off a guy’s . . . appendage . . . in his sleep because he stared at her too long, and now she keeps it in a jar in her room,” he continued, rather casually. 

Asha: But actually, I think the people who are the most dangerous to vulnerable people are the charming and friendly ones! Who give everyone a false sense of security before striking…

Lakshmi: This part of the Kirkus Review was interesting: 

The very large cast, the uneven pacing and characterization, and the presence of several complicated storylines slow down the flow of this ambitious story. The characters are broadly diverse in ethnicity and nationality.

So I agree that there are A LOT of characters to keep track of and that things get twisty at the end? But the pacing was ok for me and I mentioned earlier how I really liked the sentence structure.

Asha: I agree, I didn't mind the pacing but there was a lot to keep track of, and possibly some loose ends that didn't get tied up.

Lakshmi: It's particularly impressive because the author is 24! And probably younger when she wrote it.

Asha: Wow.

I read that she sold both her debut and this one at once But also, her being so young, might be why these teenage characters sound so real: she's not far off their age. 

Lakshmi: Yes, when she was 21 she got a 7 figure book deal!

Asha:  Wow! That's quite an accomplishment

Lakshmi: Yes! and that interview in the piece above is also striking. I guess her debut is also a boarding school novel?

“My upbringing was working class so I was very used to that environment,” she said.
“Then I went to Scotland for university where it was very white and for the first time I felt I was struggling to find people I could relate to, both on an economic level and just background-wise.
“I could go days without seeing another person of colour, which is not something I was used to.
“That definitely influenced my writing because my book is about two black kids in a school that is overwhelmingly white.

Her debut is called Ace of Spades, I remember seeing it a lot in YA sections of stores when it came out

Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo are the only two Black students at their elite private school, Niveus Private Academy. Chiamaka is the school's queen bee and Devon is nearly invisible. They barely know each other and have never spoken to each other. Chiamaka is from a rich background, while Devon is from a working-class family.

Asha: I just put it on hold at the library.

Lakshmi:  Good call! Anyone interested in purchasing Ace of Spades should check out our affiliate link here.

Each month, we’re sharing our current list of pop culture favs with readers! These are a few of our (current) favorite things!

What we are watching: 

Asha: I just finished “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV”, the 4-part Investigation Discovery documentary streaming on Max.  “Quiet on Set” looks at the toxic environment behind the camera of the Nickelodeon kids shows of the 90s and 00s and the impact it had on its child actors. It’s a touch watch, but a necessary indictment of studio execs and what they allowed to happen.

Lakshmi: While watching the British Asian actress Ambika Mod promote her new Netflix series One Day on Graham Norton, I decided to check out her breakout role, which was in the miniseries "This Is Going To Hurt." It's a stressful, yet interesting watch and is currently available to stream in the U.S. on AMC+, AcornTV, and Sundance Now.

What we are reading: 

Asha: I’m on a cozy mystery kick after watching “Murder in Provence” on Britbox, so I decided to check out the “Provençal mystery” series the show is based on. I have to admit that it’s not my favorite writing, but I enjoy reading about Aix and wine and food and the French justice system. 

Lakshmi: We were recently invited to the launch party of the new Soho Press horror-centric imprint Hell's Hundred and as our NYC-based correspondent, I got to go and rep the newsletter. One of Hell's Hundred's buzziest upcoming titles is E.K. Sathue’s “Youthjuice,” which is out in June. It's being billed as “American Psycho meets The Devil Wears Prada and I can't wait to dive in. (Added bonus: We'll read it in here this summer!)

What we are listening to: 

Asha: I’m pretty picky in the podcasts I listen to…and my preference is always for ones by professional audio journalists, but I recently listened to a few episodes of Sounds Like A Cult, and I enjoyed it enough to add to my regular rotation. It is, first and foremost, a comedy podcast, but the discussions are interesting enough to keep me listening.  

Lakshmi: The British pop star Lily Allen has always been my (EXTREMELY) problematic fave, so I was thrilled at the news that she launched the BBC Sounds podcast Miss Me? alongside her childhood best friend Miquita Oliver. It's so fun and NSFW (though you can definitely tell Miquita is a trained broadcaster and presenter, while Lily is not.) Check it out here.

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