Cricket Night (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798230283959)

A surprise holiday plunges four students at an elite New England prep school into an all-night whirlwind of parties, secrets, and survival.

It's 1985. Though the Cold War simmers and Madonna rules the airwaves, St. Stephen's School remains seemingly untouched by time. Yet beneath this boarding school's veneer of dress codes, mandatory chapel, and Latin recitations, a drug-fueled counterculture pulses to the music of the '70s while its most vulnerable students fall prey to the very adults sworn to protect them.

When the headmaster cancels classes for the annual "Cricket Holiday," he sets in motion events that will change the lives of four reluctant allies: Henry, heir to a Hong Kong fortune, grappling with his sexuality; Delaney, a rebellious party girl, refusing to accept her father's terminal illness: Mary, the scholarship student, excelling among the privileged she despises; and Charlie-entitled and clueless-stumbling toward independence from his powerful father.

While the rest of the campus descends into a drunken rager, a vengeful drug dealer and predatory teacher force these four together. As the night burns toward dawn, they must find a way to save one another by confronting the truths they've been hiding, most of all from themselves.

Told through alternating perspectives, Cricket Night is a coming-of-age thriller about what it's like to grow up in a place far, far from home. With its unflinching take on class, sexuality, and institutional corruption, it's perfect for young-adult fans of the fast-paced intrigue of One of Us Is Lying, the ruthless social dynamics of Gossip Girl, and the rarefied world of Prep.