As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were. Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special—and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together.

The narrative is simple, conversational with not too many characters to follow. The overshadowing ideas within the story are shrouded, yet slowly become clearer. However, “the final reveal” raises many more questions that linger after the final page is turned. The author has offered much to contemplate.