It's 1895, and after the death of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma's reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she's being followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence's most powerful girls - and their foray into the spiritual world - lead to?
Our story begins in Colonial India on Gemma's 16th birthday. An argument with her mother prompts Gemma to run, when she is suddenly struck with a "vision". This is a foreshadowing of the many visions she will experience. Two months later, she is shipped off to the Spence school, a finishing school in England, where she will be groomed for marriage. BUT what she finds at Spence is greater than proper grooming, she finds destiny.
This book is a little bit of everything -- a little historical fiction, a little scary, a little paranormal, a little romantic, a little coming-of-age. It was very eye-opening to see what was expected of women in this time period and to see an average teenage response to these demands. There was definitely a lot of social commentary in there about the raw deal women received back then. All of that helped me better understand the mindset of our main characters, Pippa, Felicity, Gemma and Anne. They are all "damaged" in some way, and this book is their journey and exploration into this realization and their growth.
The paranormal aspect really peaks at about 80 percent through the story. Some may say it moved slow, but there was a lot of ground work that needed to be set forth. Don't worry, the "Dead Poet's Society" -style antics are quite amusing and very enjoyable.
