Madam, Phoebe Wynne's debut, is a deliciously gothic take on patriarchy, class and the purpose of education. Rose is a young classics teacher just hired by Caldonbrae Hall, an elite girls' boarding school hidden away in a remote corner of Scotland. It's 1993, a time when girls and women are supposed to have already been liberated from the strictures of gender and tradition that prevent them from seeking their own paths in life. But what Rose finds in her new post is a claustrophobic, regressive atmosphere filled with secrets and the simmering tension one expects in a gothic novel.
There are no jump scares, no dead rabbits hanging from a doorway, but it's in small moments that Rose realizes the truth of her situation, such as when a guard won't let her leave the school premises: " 'I'm not permitted to let anyone out by foot.'/ .../ 'Can't I just go through and you look the other way?'/ 'Course not!' he almost shouted. 'They're recording everything.' "
As she attempts to settle in at Caldonbrae, Rose is initially optimistic and dedicated to her subject matter and students. It's not long before she discovers that her new pupils are not especially interested in Latin or education, however, and that they're often vicious to her and each other. Strange things start happening. Without escape as an option and with more disturbing details emerging every day, Rose tries to change things from within. Madam is a haunting, atmospheric novel about agency, power and the things people do to keep both. --Suzanne Krohn, editor, Love in Panels