Here, and Only Here

by Christelle Dabos, Hildegarde Serle (Translator)

Overview

★ “Enticingly peculiar...The novel will appeal to those who enjoy something radically different.”—Michael Cart, Booklist (starred)

“This is a gripping and disturbing read: sharp, intense and coolly observant of school day relationships and transgressions.”—Jamie Buxton, Daily Mail

“A dense fever dream.”—Kirkus

“Imagine all your middle-school nightmares made manifest. Add to that an eerie paranormal aspect that elevates the whole to the maximum level and you have this wildly creative and engaging tale of the middle school from hell.”—Eric Boss, Reading the West

“The book is interlaced with multiple different storylines (as is true of any good school!) — at the School of Here, you’ll find secret societies, magic, mystery, and students dealing with the loneliness and alienation that everyone feels at that young, pliant age.”—Powell's

“Dabos is a talented writer unafraid to tackle complex issues and it shows here...[her] writing is crisp and sharp.”—Chris Haigh, Set the Tape

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781609459574
Publisher:	Europa Editions, Incorporated
Publication date:	10/10/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
Sales rank:	1,024,118
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Christelle Dabos was born on the Côte d’Azur in 1980 and grew up in a home filled with classical music and historical games. She now lives in Belgium. A Winter’s Promise, her debut novel, won the Gallimard Jeunesse-RTL-Télérama First Novel Competition in France, and was named a Best Book of the Year by critics and publications in the US, including Entertainment Weekly, Bustle, Publishers Weekly, and Chicago Review of Books. A Winter’s Promise was named the #1 Sci-Fi/Fantasy title of the year by the editors of the Amazon Book Review.

Hildegarde Serle graduated from Oxford University. After working as a newspaper subeditor in London, she obtained the Chartered Institute of Linguists Diploma in Translation. She is the translator of the Mirror Visitor series.

Editorial Reviews

★ “Enticingly peculiar...The novel will appeal to those who enjoy something radically different.”—Michael Cart, Booklist (starred)

“This is a gripping and disturbing read: sharp, intense and coolly observant of school day relationships and transgressions.”—Jamie Buxton, Daily Mail

“A dense fever dream.”—Kirkus

“Imagine all your middle-school nightmares made manifest. Add to that an eerie paranormal aspect that elevates the whole to the maximum level and you have this wildly creative and engaging tale of the middle school from hell.”—Eric Boss, Reading the West

“The book is interlaced with multiple different storylines (as is true of any good school!) — at the School of Here, you’ll find secret societies, magic, mystery, and students dealing with the loneliness and alienation that everyone feels at that young, pliant age.”—Powell's

“Dabos is a talented writer unafraid to tackle complex issues and it shows here...[her] writing is crisp and sharp.”—Chris Haigh, Set the Tape

“There’s a grand tradition of Francophone weird fiction, where the characters must grapple with an underlying order to the world that’s beyond their understanding. Here, Dabos has blended that with a dash of dark academia; the result is elusive but ultimately rewarding.”—Tobias Carroll, Tor

From the Publisher

2023-08-11
Secondary school can be a nightmare, and that’s particularly true of a macabre school governed by peculiar social rules and supernatural machinations in this novel translated from French.

The story follows four students, each feeling like outcasts in their own ways. First-year Iris abandons her childhood friend in his time of need and suffers the consequences. Pierre, the odd one out who’s without a partner to share his desk in a class of 27 students, is violently bullied and ostracized. Madeleine feels insecure and ascribes mystical powers to herself. Guy is paired with a new girl in class and starts to question the tyrannical rule of the prince who dominates his class. Meanwhile, a small cabal of students who call themselves the Top-Secret Club meet to discuss the underlying cause of the school’s peculiarities, which they ascribe to the schmoil, a supernatural substance in the pipes. All of this is a metaphor for the isolating perils of existing as an adolescent within the social trappings of schools that so often operate according to elaborate, cliquish, and downright indecipherable social conventions. This is well-trodden territory, and this iteration feels particularly impenetrable. The prose is clunky, and the circumstances of the characters feel so odd that they nearly obscure the familiar emotions of loneliness, isolation, and insecurity that readers might otherwise find relatable.

A dense fever dream that’s not for the faint of heart. (Paranormal. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews