Page Whittaker has never fitted in. Her mother knew she was different when just a baby, and Page figured it out after moving homes and schools over and over. She makes things happen.
After a disastrous event involving her girlfriend Cassidy at her last school, the offer of a scholarship from a remote Scottish Moor boarding school seems the perfect escape. Agathion College is not only far from everything and everyone she knows, it treasures the mind, taking students with high IQ’s and academic ability.
But Agathion College isn’t as expected. English Literature is not celebrated among these dark wood-panelled walls and corridors. Plato, Socrates and other ancient Greek philosophers rule here, along with ancient Greek texts and scholars.
The students aren’t as expected either. At first Page aims to keep herself apart to concentrate on her studies, but it’s not long before she must admit her yearning to fit in. Although a group of students seems to accept her, they keep her at arms length and she knows they have secrets they are unwilling to share.
Page’s tutors are also mysterious, asking her strange questions and not answering why she was offered the scholarship in the first place. Something is happening at Agathion. Something ancient and sacred. But how does Page fit into it all?
A boarding school story is a drawcard for many readers, and if you like creepy, rituals, Greek philosophers or horror, Unhallowed Halls is definitely for you.
Agathion College is almost a character in itself as the author portrays its vibe throughout the book. Dark corridors, cold that seeps into your bones like it does main character Page, along with the ever present weather that wraps itself around the school.
The author teases out Page’s past to the reader and we learn of what made her choose this remote place to hide in. The red thread on the cover is a hugely important part of the plot, and the pig you see in the doorway has a surprise for you.
An eerie read with twists and turns and solutions that are scuppered again and again as Page finds out who she really is, and thousands of souls are on the line.
Author – Lili Wilkinson
Age – 13+
(2025, Allen & Unwin, School, Romance, Secret, Betrayal, Fantasy, Magic, Friendship, Mystery, Action, Animals, Horror, Love, Loyalty, Goddess, Possession, Rituals, Ancient Runes, Stones, Scholars, Students, Secret Room, Demons, Boarding School, Dark Academia)