The Illness Lesson

A mysterious flock of red birds descends upon Birch Hill, an isolated, crumbling building hidden behind vast hills. This is the moment, Samuel Hood decides, to open a school. Elite and progressive, they will strive to craft the minds of young women. His vision is revolutionary and noble. His daughter, Caroline, agrees to teach. And the school starts to take shape.

The fifteen-year-old girls arrive in their rattling carriages, led by the powerful, inscrutable, defiant Eliza Bell. Unafraid to speak her own mind, she is the liveliest, the most engaged of the new students. But she begins to suffer with a variety of peculiar ailments--rashes, fits, verbal tics--and soon the other seven girls are experiencing the very same symptoms. Caroline quickly discovers that she too is suffering--she has a rash, she can't feel her fingers, something is wrong. As the school turns to Dr Hawkins, a physician with very dubious methods, Caroline is forced to question her position and her responsibility for these girls.

A distinctive, haunting, irresistable novel, The Illness Lesson is a masterful debut about women's minds and bodies, the time-honoured tradition of doubting both and the power that exists within.