The Temple House Vanishing, the debut novel by Rachel Donohue, is a slow-burning and highly atmospheric thriller set principally within the strangely creepy confines of an elite Catholic boarding school.
Seriously academic and looking for a way to escape from her rather troubled yet still decidedly humdrum home life, Louisa came to Temple House on a scholarship – a fact that neither the school bullies nor the nuns who taught at the school were willing to let her forget. She hadn’t really fitted in at her former (state comprehensive) school and she didn’t fit in at the stiffy traditional Temple House all-girls boarding school either. The school’s rules, regulations and rituals seemed designed to keep outsiders out and to keep those from outside the desired social strata who were reluctantly admitted (such as Louisa, admitted to the school as part of a “social experiment”) in their place.
Louisa did seem to make one friend though – Victoria, a girl a year older who, despite being born into exactly the right kind of family and perfectly understanding the world of Temple House, was also something of an outsider (or strove to be one anyway). Through Victoria, Louisa got to know Mr Lavelle, the school’s charismatic young art teacher (and the first male teacher in its history), and the three of them spent a lot of the term together, prompting much suspicion and jealousy among the rest of the school community. And then one day Louisa and Mr Lavelle vanished…
The Temple House Vanishing is a dual narrative novel, with part of the story being told by Louisa and part by a journalist who is writing an article to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the disappearances. This structure works really well, as the switching between different perspectives and different time periods allows the story to be slowly revealed and the mystery to be tantalisingly unravelled.
Louisa’s narrative describes her time at Temple House, the awkwardness and the bullying, her eventual settling in, and her happiness at making a friend and seemingly finding her place at the school. The atmosphere of Temple House and of the relationships that unfold within its walls is stifling and oppressive. It’s all very intense and, even as an outsider, Louisa finds herself caught up in the rivalries, fantasies and petty intrigues that all too often seem overwhelming in a closed environment. She revels in her friendships, learns to stand up to the school bullies and continues to excel intellectually. But for all that, does she really understand everything that is going on at the school?
The journalist had lived across the street from Louisa’s family when she was young, had even occasionally been babysat by Louisa, so the story has a personal dimension for her. She can barely remember Louisa as an individual, but she can’t forget the disappearance of the girl and her teacher. No one can really, which is why the twenty-fifth anniversary of the event is such a big deal. The police hadn’t been able to get far with their investigation – the school community closed ranks after the disappearances, Mr Lavelle and Louisa were both outsiders after all – but the journalist is determined to get people to talk to her. She doesn’t believe that Louisa would have run away with her teacher and she’s certain that someone from the school knows what really happened to them.
The Temple House Vanishing is a tense and deeply unsettling tale. It’s clear from the outset that something went very wrong at Temple House and that more than one person has secrets to hide. The world of the boarding school is a closed one and many of the characters are unpleasant, consumed as they are with their own desires and intrigues. The disappearances of Louisa and Mr Lavelle cast long shadows and Rachel Donohue has done an excellent job of using the journalist’s narrative to examine the impact of a tragedy on the lives of those left behind, whatever their involvement may have been.
Seriously academic and looking for a way to escape from her rather troubled yet still decidedly humdrum home life, Louisa came to Temple House on a scholarship – a fact that neither the school bullies nor the nuns who taught at the school were willing to let her forget. She hadn’t really fitted in at her former (state comprehensive) school and she didn’t fit in at the stiffy traditional Temple House all-girls boarding school either. The school’s rules, regulations and rituals seemed designed to keep outsiders out and to keep those from outside the desired social strata who were reluctantly admitted (such as Louisa, admitted to the school as part of a “social experiment”) in their place.
Louisa did seem to make one friend though – Victoria, a girl a year older who, despite being born into exactly the right kind of family and perfectly understanding the world of Temple House, was also something of an outsider (or strove to be one anyway). Through Victoria, Louisa got to know Mr Lavelle, the school’s charismatic young art teacher (and the first male teacher in its history), and the three of them spent a lot of the term together, prompting much suspicion and jealousy among the rest of the school community. And then one day Louisa and Mr Lavelle vanished…
The Temple House Vanishing is a dual narrative novel, with part of the story being told by Louisa and part by a journalist who is writing an article to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the disappearances. This structure works really well, as the switching between different perspectives and different time periods allows the story to be slowly revealed and the mystery to be tantalisingly unravelled.
Louisa’s narrative describes her time at Temple House, the awkwardness and the bullying, her eventual settling in, and her happiness at making a friend and seemingly finding her place at the school. The atmosphere of Temple House and of the relationships that unfold within its walls is stifling and oppressive. It’s all very intense and, even as an outsider, Louisa finds herself caught up in the rivalries, fantasies and petty intrigues that all too often seem overwhelming in a closed environment. She revels in her friendships, learns to stand up to the school bullies and continues to excel intellectually. But for all that, does she really understand everything that is going on at the school?
The journalist had lived across the street from Louisa’s family when she was young, had even occasionally been babysat by Louisa, so the story has a personal dimension for her. She can barely remember Louisa as an individual, but she can’t forget the disappearance of the girl and her teacher. No one can really, which is why the twenty-fifth anniversary of the event is such a big deal. The police hadn’t been able to get far with their investigation – the school community closed ranks after the disappearances, Mr Lavelle and Louisa were both outsiders after all – but the journalist is determined to get people to talk to her. She doesn’t believe that Louisa would have run away with her teacher and she’s certain that someone from the school knows what really happened to them.
The Temple House Vanishing is a tense and deeply unsettling tale. It’s clear from the outset that something went very wrong at Temple House and that more than one person has secrets to hide. The world of the boarding school is a closed one and many of the characters are unpleasant, consumed as they are with their own desires and intrigues. The disappearances of Louisa and Mr Lavelle cast long shadows and Rachel Donohue has done an excellent job of using the journalist’s narrative to examine the impact of a tragedy on the lives of those left behind, whatever their involvement may have been.