Hanna Alkaf: "The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette's"

Title: The Hysterical Girls Of St. Bernadette's [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Hanna Alkaf [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural, Contemporary
Year: 2024
Age: 14+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Fleshed-out, believable (and diverse) protagonists (Muslim, Malaysian). Strong social commentary. Atmospheric writing. 
Cons: The ending feels rushed and doesn't provide enough closure, especially for some characters.
WARNING! Sexual assault/molestation (not graphic, mentioned), trauma, psychosis, victim dismissal, toxic parent, corporal punishment (mentioned).
Will appeal to: Those who enjoy stories about female empowerment and solidarity - better if in a supernatural context.

Blurb: For over a hundred years, girls have fought to attend St. Bernadette’s, with its reputation for shaping only the best and brightest young women. Unfortunately, there is also the screaming. When a student begins to scream in the middle of class, a chain reaction starts that impacts the entire school. By the end of the day, seventeen girls are affected - along with St. Bernadette’s stellar reputation. Khadijah’s got her own scars to tend to, and watching her friends succumb to hysteria only rips apart wounds she’d rather keep closed. But when her sister falls to the screams, Khad knows she’s the only one who can save her. Rachel has always been far too occupied trying to reconcile her overbearing mother’s expectations with her own secret ambitions to pay attention to school antics. But just as Rachel finds her voice, it turns into screams. Together, the two girls find themselves digging deeper into the school’s dark history, hunting for the truth. Little do they know that a specter lurks in the darkness, watching, waiting, and hungry for its next victim... (Amazon)

Review: Why don't more people talk about this book? It's one of those hidden gems that keep getting overlooked in favour of more hyped novels, and I'm going to do my part to rectify this wrong...

SISTERS IN ARMS

In the vein of Flawless Girls, but with more flesh to its plot and characters, THGOSB is an unapologetically Malaysian, yet in a way universal tale with many facets: an enthralling supernatural mystery woven with a strong contemporary/coming-of-age thread; the story of a haunting, yet not a conventional ghost story; but more than anything, a call to togetherness in the face of women's vilification and dismissal. Despite the publisher's notes, however, it definitely doesn't fall under the dark-academia umbrella, unless you think that a single character being strong-armed by her mother into excellence qualifies - I'm telling you this just so you don't build up expectations that won't be met (I mean...everything's labeled "dark academia" these days, but a "school with secrets" setting isn't enough for a book to earn it). Mainly told in a dual narrative, but with the interpolation of a third point of view, THGOSB explores themes of trauma, agency (or lack thereof) and the silencing of female voices, along with sisterhood (real or forged) and the most abhorrent crime: women themselves perpetuating the cycle of abuse because they think it's inescapable, and that the only way girls can protect themselves is by becoming higher-priced commodities. [...]

KEEP IT REAL

Speaking of voices - whether inner monologues or dialogues - all the characters' ones are very distinct and spot-on: Alkaf manages to infuse them with authenticity while never sacrificing rhythm and storytelling (and regardless of the supernatural angle). For instance, I loved how Khadijah's friends were there for her in the aftermath of her trauma (selective mutism included), then while she started investigating the screaming girls phenomenon, but they weren't always perfect and occasionally struggled with her not finding her way back to normal as quickly as they would have liked. Likewise, Rachel's walking a fine line between fighting for an ounce of emancipation and acting as an unwitting conduit while giving in to psychosis felt so real. Both these girls, plus Aishah (Khad's sister) and Fatihah (the first screamer), had my heart. Really, if I have to find a fault in this story, it's that it ends quite abruptly and doesn't offer explanations about a specific point or closure to some of the characters (even to the protagonists, to an extent - I mean, I don't believe in easy resolutions wrapped in a pretty bow, but there's a lot of unfinished business here, though in a way the ending is brilliant). One could say that the villain isn't hard to spot either, but on the other hand, the supernatural mystery's denouement and the showdown are satisfying (and not at all banal). All in all, THGOSB is a thought-provoking study of male entitlement and certain women's complicity in it, a compassionate look at trauma and victim dismissal, and an uplifting celebration of girl solidarity and empowerment in spite of the individual differences, ultimately amplified by the supernatural context. Couple all that with atmospheric writing that never gets purple, and you have a winner that deserves more recognition - so go ahead and read it...

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Like this book? You might also be interested in Anna-Marie McLemore: "Flawless Girls".