The Divines

October 12, 2020
Eaton’s intelligent debut follows freelance writer Josephine as she reflects on her past as a bully at a now-defunct all-girls English boarding school. In flashbacks to the mid-1990s, it’s revealed that Josephine’s lower-class roommate, Gerry Lake, suffered a fall from their dorm window that threatened her figure-skating career and led to a scandal that forced the school to close. Before the fall, Gerry had long been bullied by a group of classmates led by Josephine’s frosty best friend, Skipper. Insecure and lonely, Josephine befriends Lauren McKibbin (whose older brother, Stuart, handles maintenance for the school), despite a prohibition on socializing with “townies.” As the girls grow closer, Josephine develops a crush on Stuart and tries to retain the good graces of her old crew by joining in on their bullying of Gerry, even after Gerry helps her deal with an upsetting incident involving Stuart. The book winds down on a satisfying note as a school reunion and Josephine’s travel for an assignment lead her to catch up with key characters and confront some unflattering things about herself. Eaton does a good job describing class tension and the misery of trying to fit into a social clique as a teenager. Josephine’s steady unraveling of her teenage dramas will keep readers riveted.

November 1, 2020
Sephine is on her honeymoon with her new husband when they stop in the small British town where she attended boarding school. The students at the all-girls St. John the Divine called themselves Divines. They went by boys' names, looked down their noses at the townies, and engaged in ruthless pranks, until the school was absorbed by a larger one thirty miles away. In town, a woman throws an awful insult at Sephine, causing her to contemplate the Divines' final days. The narrative splits into two; one stays in the present, while the other explores Sephine's memories. To this day, she is affected by the accidental death of her roommate, Gerry, a driven figure skater who was teased and bullied by the other Divines. As she remembers, Sephine must confront how this time at school shaped her life and how culpable she was in creating the trauma of others. At times both sharp and haunting, this novel embodies the awkwardness and regret of adolescence, complicated by Sephine's superior identity as a Divine. A layered and complex debut.

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