SuitabookThe unseemly education of Anne Merchant
Joanna Wiebe
- Reading
- Try the opening together and check in after the first strange sounds or restrictions appear. This gives your reader a chance to say whether the suspense is engaging or whether they would rather pause.
- Themes
- Competition and secrecy: Anne’s every move is graded in a competition for valedictorian, whose rewards are left unexplained; rules also restrict where she may go. These details structure the school mystery: competition and restrictions supply questions for Anne to investigate, rather than establishing a clear judgement about the school’s values.
- Worth knowing
- The premise includes piercing shrieks and the possibility that Anne and people she loves may be destroyed. Those peril and threat elements could feel intense for a reader who prefers less suspense.