The Finishing School drops all the right names, but it’s far from an exercise in snobbery. Its subjects are young love and lust, privilege and striving, and faculty-student relations that redefine that term. There’s a missing ledger and a dark secret, and the story is as tasty as braised lamb shanks and as easy to swallow as a good Riesling — add this to your stack of beach reads.” — Head Butler
“Suspenseful.... If your guilty-pleasure reads include elite boarding schools, secret societies, murder, and scandal, this one’s for you.” — Kirkus
“The Finishing School pulls back the curtain to expose a fascinating world of desire, betrayal, and dangerous secrets.” — Lou Berney, Edgar Award-winning author of The Long and Faraway Gone
“The Finishing School plunges the reader headfirst into a fast-paced, nail-biting mystery that also manages to explore friendship, love, adolescence, family and motherhood. By the time you reach the unexpected ending, you’ll practically be gasping for air.” — Jessica Anya Blau, author of The Trouble with Lexie
“Craftily depicts a mystery hidden for decades under the veil of boarding-school tradition and secret societies…. Goodman unravels a web of lies intertwining the well-developed characters that cross Kersti’s path.” — Booklist
“Joanna Goodman clearly knows her way around the rarefied world of the rich and famous. Every page of this compelling novel resonates with authenticity, and is filled with suspense—The Finishing School will keep readers up late at night.” — Roberta Rich, author of The Midwife of Venice
“A compelling tale of horrific teenage secrets inside the walls of an elite school in Switzerland, unearthed with verve and sly irony. The truth is cold and slippery as ice as Goodman draws us into the darkness beneath the glittering surface of lakes and snowcapped mountains, and of privilege itself.” — Deborah Lawrenson, author of 300 Days of Sun
“Both a coming-of-age-story and a literary mystery but ultimately culminating in an addictive read full of skillfully conveyed characters.” — Library Journal
“Rich and intriguing, The Finishing School is a page-turner of the best sort—a novel that dusts the polish off of prestige and leaves you with the startling truth.” — Joy Calloway, author of The Fifth Avenue Artists Society and Secret Sisters
“In The Finishing School , secrets are exposed and lies revealed when Kersti Kuusk is pulled back to Geneva, the site of her boarding school roommate’s tragic accident decades before. The hidden rot she discovers at the heart of this seemingly golden world makes for a shocking, satisfying read.” — Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, author of Bittersweet and June
“Enthralling.... Both a compelling look into an exclusive world and a wise and heartbreaking story of a friendship and misplaced passion.... The book is addictive because of the mystery it explores.... Also notable is the deftness with which Goodman presents the complicated, passionate nature of friendships during formative years.” — Globe and Mail , Canada
In The Finishing School , secrets are exposed and lies revealed when Kersti Kuusk is pulled back to Geneva, the site of her boarding school roommate’s tragic accident decades before. The hidden rot she discovers at the heart of this seemingly golden world makes for a shocking, satisfying read.
Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
The Finishing School drops all the right names, but it’s far from an exercise in snobbery. Its subjects are young love and lust, privilege and striving, and faculty-student relations that redefine that term. There’s a missing ledger and a dark secret, and the story is as tasty as braised lamb shanks and as easy to swallow as a good Riesling — add this to your stack of beach reads.
Craftily depicts a mystery hidden for decades under the veil of boarding-school tradition and secret societies…. Goodman unravels a web of lies intertwining the well-developed characters that cross Kersti’s path.
The Finishing School pulls back the curtain to expose a fascinating world of desire, betrayal, and dangerous secrets.
A compelling tale of horrific teenage secrets inside the walls of an elite school in Switzerland, unearthed with verve and sly irony. The truth is cold and slippery as ice as Goodman draws us into the darkness beneath the glittering surface of lakes and snowcapped mountains, and of privilege itself.
Rich and intriguing, The Finishing School is a page-turner of the best sort—a novel that dusts the polish off of prestige and leaves you with the startling truth.
The Finishing School plunges the reader headfirst into a fast-paced, nail-biting mystery that also manages to explore friendship, love, adolescence, family and motherhood. By the time you reach the unexpected ending, you’ll practically be gasping for air.
Joanna Goodman clearly knows her way around the rarefied world of the rich and famous. Every page of this compelling novel resonates with authenticity, and is filled with suspense—The Finishing School will keep readers up late at night.
Craftily depicts a mystery hidden for decades under the veil of boarding-school tradition and secret societies…. Goodman unravels a web of lies intertwining the well-developed characters that cross Kersti’s path.
Enthralling.... Both a compelling look into an exclusive world and a wise and heartbreaking story of a friendship and misplaced passion.... The book is addictive because of the mystery it explores.... Also notable is the deftness with which Goodman presents the complicated, passionate nature of friendships during formative years.
Praise for YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU: “Goodman’s examination of the bond of family and her strong characters will resonate with many readers.
Booklist on YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU
Praise for You Made Me Love You: “Goodman’s examination of the bond of family and her strong characters will resonate with many readers.
Booklist on You Made Me Love You
You Made Me Love You is full of humour, wisdom, and hope. Joanna Goodman has a wonderful ear for dialogue and a sharp eye for the nuances of life.
03/15/2017 On the surface Kersti Kuusk is doing well, making a living as a novelist and living in Toronto with her husband, Jay. Beyond her successful facade, she's in her mid-30s, struggling with infertility, and trying to cope with long-held insecurities. Plus she's still haunted by her best friend's mysterious fall from a fourth-floor balcony at their prestigious Swiss boarding school years ago. Then a letter arrives inviting her to speak at the school's 100th anniversary celebration, followed by a letter from her dying former schoolmate Lille, which questions Cressida's "accidental" fall. The letters catapult Kersti on a quest to track down her classmates and teachers who might be more forthcoming after all these years. As she digs deeper, everything indicates that the ledgers of the Helvetian Society, a secret but long-banned club at the school, hold the answers. The shocking truths that Kersti eventually uncovers lead her to a dangerous confrontation and some devastating realizations. VERDICT Goodman's (You Made Me Love You; Harmony) novel alternates between the present and the 1990s, giving it the feel of both a coming-of-age-story and a literary mystery but ultimately culminating in an addictive read full of skillfully conveyed characters. [See Prepub Alert, 10/31/16.]—Melissa DeWild, BookOps, New York P.L.
2017-01-23 A writer haunted by the secrets of her boarding school days determines to find out the truth behind a suspicious accident in Goodman's (Harmony, 2007, etc.) suspenseful novel.As a teenager, Kersti attended a swanky Swiss boarding school where she made close friends with a group of wealthy girls. Her closest confidante, her glamorous roommate, Cressida, had a terrible accident a few months before graduation, and Kersti left, hoping to put everything behind her and move on with her life. Eighteen years later, she has become a successful novelist but is unable to have a child, and her marriage is under terrific strain. When she receives an invitation from the Lycée to return for the school's hundred-year celebration and speak as a distinguished alumna, she begins to sift through stories of the past, realizing, with the help of a mysterious letter from an old friend, that there are still too many unanswered questions surrounding Cressida's accident. Goodman intercuts the story of Kersti's years at the Lycée with her investigations and decisions of the present day, allowing the main characters to deepen and take on more form as the novel progresses. Secondary characters are granted little development, but Kersti herself, daughter of Estonian immigrants and profoundly lonely within her family, is a fetching heroine despite her one-note, obsessive desire for a baby. Some of the plot twists are too convenient, and some too expected, but there is enough subterfuge to drive the story to the final answers and confrontation—and to achieve surprise. If your guilty-pleasure reads include elite boarding schools, secret societies, murder, and scandal, this one's for you.