"i was a woman when it was convenient to blame me, and a girl when they wanted to use me."
Another dark academia-adjacent novel that drew me in with a pretty over. This one leans younger as well, but there is an undercurrent here that is s bit more sinister. It is not overly explicit or handled the best way, but there is an implied sexual overture an older professor made towards our heroine, who is then ostracized and blamed for it - of course.
This is a world where literature is a kind of pinnacle of intellectualism and the Literature College is the most prestigious one. So far so good. Alas, misogyny is also rampant so women aren't allowed into this college because their pea brain would pollute its hallowed halls, you know.
Effy choses the next best thing - the Architecture college, where the aforementioned uncomfortable thing with a professor starts. They really don't want women educated there. She doesn't fit in, but when she sees an ad that seeks architects to renovate the house of the most celebrated of the country's writers, she is eager to apply - and gets it.
To her immense disappointment, her nemesis (but not really, because he's a good guy) Preston also applied and got the position, so now they have to work together. This feeling of unease is exacerbated by the fact that she is stuck in a damn, musty ruined Hiraeth - the house she imagined as cozy and as comforting as the writer's books are to her.
The author's son is behaving strangely as well, and there are secrets lurking everywhere. What is truth and what is fiction? Who tells our stories and who takes ownership of our words?
