If you’re looking for a mean girls to the extreme set-up, you may want to read What Happened at Hawthorne House by Hadassah Shiradski. This is the story of some girls who are around 10 years old. They engage in bullying to one-up each other to win the “queen” spot in their game. The “queen” has control over the other girls living at the orphanage. To dethrone the “queen,” another girl must do something increasingly meaner or more destructive. This novella was published in August 2023.
My Critique
This is one of those stories where you’re not completely sure how you feel about it. It’s written in two parts.
The First Part
The first part takes up about 60% of the novella. Unfortunately, because this is a novella, there’s not enough room to develop both parts. I feel like the first part either needs to be longer or shorter. That might sound weird.
If it was longer, the author could have developed the characters’ backstories more. As it is, the main three characters blend together a lot, especially in the first part of the book. While they guess why another girl is coming to the orphanage, we don’t get the backstory on how these girls’ families died. I think that might be interesting to know. Later in the story, we do get a hint at one girl’s backstory, but even that’s not developed well.
If it were shorter, the first part of the book could just be the final scene presented as a prologue. Then we could be thrown into the second part of the novella, which then could include some of the backstory mixed in.
The Second Part
The second part takes place thirteen years after the events of the first part. Explaining this part too much would give away the plot from the first part. This is where the girls from the first part let others in on their bullying game. Yet, it’s important to note that while others are allowed to enter their world, only the girls of Hawthorne House can be the “queen.”
How Are They Bullying?
In the beginning, the bullying is just mean, not necessarily destructive. This includes things such as dumping a bucket of water on other girls or throwing their clothes out the window. These pranks get progressively worse until they start to be pranks that could cause permanent physical damage.
This book is a bit creepy, but honestly not as creepy as I expected based on the book’s description. At the end of the book, the author offers a Content Warning, which feels a bit weird. If it was needed, it should be at the beginning of the book or be part of the book’s description.
Reader Warnings
There is quite a bit of violence as the children are trying to one-up each other. Most of it isn’t super graphic, but in one scene, the “queen” doesn’t agree with what one girl says, so she has the other girls torture this girl. It’s definitely a disturbing scene. I was left wondering if the tortured girl was dead or alive at the end of the scene. Death is a part of the story. Let’s just say that in the second part of the story, there are some ghosts.
Final Thoughts
Generally, I’m not going to recommend a 3-star book. I’m on the fence about recommending this one. It is a novella, so it’s a quick read. If you’re short on time, you could probably even start with the final chapter in the first part and get the main idea of the first part of the story. You might even be able to skip to the second part, which I think I read in just a little over half an hour. Overall, while I was drawn in by the description of the bullying and the one-upping of the first part of the story, I found the second part more interesting. If you’re looking for a mildly creepy story with children in it, I’d recommend We Have Always Live in the Castle instead.
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