Author: A. J. Elwood
Published: 2023
Target audience: Adults (appropriate 14+)
Obsession, loathing, and vulnerability collide in ‘The Other Lives of Miss Emily White’, a gothic novel about the fixations of young girls and what happens when they get out of hand. It is 1864, and Ivy feels utterly alone. Isolated at a boarding school for young ladies, rumour and social hierarchy bleeds into every aspect of the girls' lives. Ivy is an outcast among her highborn peers: mocked for being a farmers daughter, shunned by her former best friend, and grieving for her dead sister. So when a new teacher, Miss Emily White, arrives at the school and offers to tutor her in painting, Ivy is delighted.
Ivy's devotion to Miss White grows, yet unsettling rumours begin to circulate. Girls claim to have seen Miss White out in the garden picking flowers while also teaching inside a classroom, or leaving the school but also stalking the halls at the same time. Gossip is a vicious beast, and Ivy has no love for Sophia - the oldest, prettiest student and the ringleader driving the whispers about a doppelgänger. But bizarre events keep happening, and with the future of Ivy's favourite teacher at stake, one question must be answered: Is this just the hysteria of schoolgirls, or is there something truly sinister and supernatural at work?
Written by British author A. J. Elwood, ‘The Other Lives of Miss Emily White’ is a wonderfully atmospheric story of the loneliness of a young girl. Ivy’s rejection by the other girls and her ache for friendship creates a sympathetic protagonist who we can become invested in, yet there are hints that suggest Ivy may not be an entirely truthful narrator. The pacing veers too slow at times, particularly in the beginning, but the story remains intriguing with an excellent sense of eerie normalcy.
If you’re looking for a creeping gothic tale that straddles mystery and the uncanny, then ‘The Other Lives of Miss Emily White’ may be just the book for you. While it’s not one to rush out for, it is certainly a fun holiday read.
Excerpt:
‘You see?’ [Sophia] snapped the book closed. ‘A shadow, standing by her side, copying her movements. All the girls in the book saw it. Every last one of them.’
‘You saw nothing,’ I snapped out. ‘You all pretended. There was no one there, nothing at all.’
‘Of course we did. We knew it was there. It may not have materialised, not this time, but eyes aren’t the only way of seeing. There are other senses-‘
‘For shame, Sophia!’
‘You’ll see it too, Ivy, when you’re granted the sight. You’ll see everything. There’s something wrong with her. We can all feel it. Lu did. She knew it was wicked. How else could it have hurt her with a single touch?’
‘Lucy was hysterical. It was nothing to do with Miss White.’
‘Nothing to do with her?’ Sophia laughed. ‘It is her, Ivy. You have to see that. Why else does it have her face? Why else does such a thing walk beside her - abide with her?’
