Where Sleeping Girls Lie

Starred review from January 8, 2024
Àbíké-Íyímídé (Ace of Spades) presents a powerful look at grief, rape culture, and moving on from loss in this exquisitely crafted paranormal mystery. Following her father’s death from a heart attack, recently orphaned Sade Hussein begins attending Alfred Nobel Academy, an elite boarding school. Soon after her arrival, her roommate Elizabeth goes missing. Elizabeth’s disappearance and school administrators’ commitment to sweeping it under the rug haunt Sade; unfortunately, hauntings are something she is well acquainted with. Death has always plagued Sade: her father’s, her mother’s suicide, and the drowning of her best friend, whose ghost often appears to her (“Sade felt her, the shadow girl from her nightmares, crawl into bed with her, and hold her close”). Suspecting foul play, Sade and new friend Basil embark on a mission to find Elizabeth and, with help from the Unholy Trinity—a group of popular girls who may know more than they’re letting on—the teens not only uncover clues about Elizabeth’s vanishing, but a culture of patriarchal violence terrorizing female students at the academy. Àbíké-Íyímídé employs exceptionally perceptive character dynamics rendered via beautifully twisty prose to deliver a searing indictment of sexual violence and the lengths to which corrupt institutions will go to discredit and silence survivors. Sade is Black and the supporting cast is intersectionally diverse. Ages 14–up. Agent: Molly Ker Hawn and Zoë Plant, Bent Agency.