Impossible Causes

September 2, 2019
YA author Mayhew (The Big Lie) makes her adult debut with an atmospheric, if disjointed, thriller set on Lark, an isolated island off the English coast that’s home to St. Rita’s School. Teenager Viola Kendrick and her mother come to Lark to escape a family tragedy that has shattered them, arriving on the last boat before the fog descends that cuts off the island from the mainland for seven months. Viola spies on the three “Eldest Girls” from St. Rita’s, who spend their time in the hills performing rituals and fantasizing about sex. Unlike the black hair of the Lark natives, Viola’s vibrant red locks label her a “coycrock,” or intruder from the mainland. She longs to be accepted by the elders, and eventually is. Meanwhile, handsome Ben Hailey, St. Rita’s only male teacher, and Leah Cedars, the school’s head teacher, fall in love, creating petty jealousies that lead to murder. The characters’ indistinguishable sameness and awkward shifts between past and present will have readers scrambling to keep the story straight and understand whose voice is telling it. That said, Mayhew delivers some memorably creepy moments. Agent: Louise Lamont, LBA Books.

September 15, 2019
When newcomers move to an isolated island, old secrets threaten long-established order in this engrossing psychological thriller with hints of magic. This is the first novel for adults by British YA author Mayhew (The Electrical Venus, 2018, etc.). Many of its characters, though, are teens; one of its dual protagonists is teenager Viola Kendrick. After a personal disaster, Viola's mother hears a radio show about Lark, an isolated island in the North Sea. The tight-knit, religious community there is cut off from all outside contact each year from August to April. Viola and her mother, who's suffering from depression, arrive just in time for the school year, as does another outsider, teacher Ben Hailey. The island's only school hasn't had a male teacher in living memory. Its only male staffer is the headmaster, Jacob Crane, who is the most powerful man on the island. But the handsome new science teacher soon charms everyone, particularly the book's other protagonist, teacher Leah Cedars, who narrates her chapters in first person. Leah is a "pure catch," as Lark natives are called, with distinctive ink-black hair; although she knows it will draw disapproval, she falls hard for Hailey. Viola is interested in their relationship, but she's more obsessed with the Elder Girls, as the three senior girls in the school are called. Britta Sayers, Jade-Marie Ahearn, and Anna Duchamp are behaving strangely, and Mr. Hailey seems to be involved. The rumors are that the girls might be practicing old pagan ways, and Viola's spying seems to confirm it, although what is driving them to rebel is a mystery. Then someone dies. Mayhew moves the plot around in time, beginning with the discovery of the dead body and then shifting back months to the outsiders' arrival. Dates on each chapter help keep the complex structure moving smoothly. Engaging characters, well-crafted suspense, and a tone of growing, claustrophobic dread add up to an effective thriller.

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September 15, 2019
YA author Mayhew's first adult thriller opens with an unidentified body being found on the island of Lark, off the English coast, where the inhabitants live far from the mainland in body and spirit. Our protagonist is teenager Viola, who moves to Lark at the start of the book with her mentally ill mother. The Christian fundamentalist sect living on the island?nameless, but familiar to anyone who's read Puritan history?is stifling and unforgiving, especially toward women and girls. Viola wants desperately to fit in, but she and her mother are objects of suspicion from the start. Soon Viola starts spying on a group of girls thought to be witches who form a forbidden bond with a handsome teacher who's also new to the island. When a dead man is found at one of the girls' meeting places, religious and social tensions boil over. While the narrative jumps back and forth in time can be muddling, the novel effectively probes the teenage psyche while offering a compelling look at the perils of an insular society. A great read-alike for Malin Persson Giolito's Quicksand (2017) and the Netflix series it spawned.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)