When her sister returns from finishing school a total stranger, a teen seeks out the cause and discovers that the cost of becoming a perfect lady is much higherтАФand more sinisterтАФthan ever expected. A lush, gothic tale that will haunt readers long after they turn the last page.
Gwen Donavan adores her beautiful and rebellious older sister, Izzy. But the Izzy who returns from the Delphi School for Girls is not the sister who left. Now she is Isolde: dull and complacent andтАФmost shockingтАФeager to marry.
Gwen is determined to discover what happened to Izzy at Delphi, and the only solution she can conceive of is to cheat her way into the mysterious school. If she can see for herself what they did, maybe she can get her Izzy back.
But Delphi is far from the finishing school Gwen expects. Sinister shadows lurk in the hallways of the remote estate, and she is told to never leave her room after dark. More curious, though, are the thousands of books, each with the name of a girl on its spine. They line the walls from floor to ceiling, and the students are forbidden to read them.
Delphi says theyтАЩre reforming the girls, but when Gwen discovers a note left for her by her sister, she realizes that what is happening at the school is more terrifying than she could ever have imagined. ThereтАЩs something dark at the center of Delphi, and somehow itтАЩs tied to those booksтАФand to the girls who are sent there. And if Gwen doesnтАЩt confront what hides in the shadows, it wonтАЩt be just Izzy whoтАЩs lost forever.