Introduction

Imogene Abney has always been fascinated by the elite world of prep schools. Shortly after her college graduation, when she’s offered a teaching position at the Vandenberg School for Boys, she immediately accepts.

When Imogene meets handsome, popular Adam Kipling a few weeks into her tenure there, a student who exudes charm and status and ease, she’s immediately drawn to him. As an obsessive, illicit affair begins between them, Imogene is so lost in the haze of first love that she’s unable to recognize the danger she’s in.

Exploring issues of class, sex, and gender, Sullivan shatters the black-and-white nature of victimhood, taking a close look at blame and moral ambiguity.

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Excerpt

ONE


There had been no major incidents—at least, nothing of the sort I imagined could happen my first week at Vandenberg School for Boys (no salmonella outbreak, no still-lit cigarette imprudently disposed in a wastebasket, no menacingly quiet freshman with a handgun). Then I caught Christopher Jordan with his hand down his pants. I didn’t mean to see it. I certainly didn’t want to see it. But I saw it nevertheless: the flaxen-haired second year from Roanoke, prostrate and panting on his twin bed. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. Imogene romanticizes the idea of boarding school long before she accepts a job at Vandenberg School for Boys. How does Vandenberg meet her expectations, and where do her expectations fall short?

2. Though she is given the opportunity to befriend her roommates, Imogene never feels that she is able to fit in. Is Imogene at fault for this failure to connect?

3. Imogene often finds herself thinking of Zeke from college, the guy she considers “the first great love of her life,” despite her lack of attraction to him. Why does Imogene still think of him so often? Does she regret her relationship with him, or can she accept it for what it was?

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