The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette's

Starred review from June 17, 2024
The students of St. Bernadette’s, a 112-year-old premier all-girls school, inexplicably begin to let out terrified, unrelenting screams in this electrifyingly dark thriller set in Kuala Lumpur. Following an undisclosed incident, 16-year-old Khadijah hasn’t spoken in three months and avoids physical touch. Meanwhile, almost-17-year-old Rachel is a top student, but her every move is dictated by her wealthy mother. When teens begin screaming one by one and are unable to stop, officials blame ghosts and mass hysteria. After Khad’s younger sister is beget by the scream—and as those affected begin disappearing—Khad and her friends endeavor to solve the mystery. Rachel soon joins in, and together, the girls learn the truth about their beloved school and the real-life monsters that inhabit it. Over the course of the investigation, Alkaf (Night of the Living Head) gradually unveils details surrounding Khad and Rachel’s pasts. Piercing observations into the teens’ struggles gaining autonomy are explored alongside sensitively wrought instances of trauma and sexual violence via immersive prose peppered with Malay words and phrases. Most characters are Malaysian Muslim. Ages 14–up. Agent: Victoria Marini, Irene Goodman Literary.

July 1, 2024
An all-girls school in Kuala Lumpur is beset by a mass hysteria of screaming students. The first screamer was the new girl. Soon, more terrified shrieks echo off the old stone walls of prestigious St. Bernadette's, a school with a reputation for grooming Malaysia's brightest young women. Sixteen-year-old Khadijah Rahmat doesn't speak much and is dealing with trauma after a sexual assault. Rachel Lian, an academic super-achiever, is struggling to emerge from the shadow of her overbearing mother. When Khadijah's sister becomes a screamer--and the screamers start disappearing--she feels compelled to act. Rachel, meanwhile, is haunted by the ghost of a screamer who disappeared years ago. Khadijah and Rachel uncover dark secrets the school would rather keep hidden. The atmospheric writing creates a sense of foreboding that effectively portrays the horror of the girls who are pulled into the unknown. The complex mother-daughter relationships show how the teens' lack of agency affects them: From decisions over academics and extracurricular activities to being monitored when they should be supported and finding their concerns brushed off, there's a sense of their being trapped by duty and societal expectations. Unfortunately, the girls' voices feel interchangeable and older than their years, and experienced genre readers may easily anticipate the big reveal. Still, the story admirably takes on themes of trauma and sexual assault and encourages the girls to find their voice. A perceptive examination of trauma and its manifestation on women's bodies, minds, and voices. (content note) (Thriller. 13-18)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from September 1, 2024
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* At first, it's just one student at St. Bernadette's, the prestigious all-girls school in Kuala Lumpur, who starts screaming involuntarily. But it spreads, becoming a newsworthy mass-hysteria sensation as more girls become #StBerniesScreamers. Sixteen-year-old Khadijah knows what it's like to feel your body isn't under your control; that's one reason she stopped speaking after a sexual assault. Seventeen-year-old Rachel lacks autonomy: her emotionally abusive mother dictates every aspect of her life and expects success. When Khad's younger sister becomes a screamer, Khad searches for links among the girls affected and discovers this has happened before--and it didn't stop until one of the screamers disappeared. Meanwhile, Rachel's crumbling sense of self opens her to possession by a spirit who orders her to "save us." The dual stories converge as Khad and Rachel investigate their school's hidden past and the dark specter the screamers report seeing. Khad's and Rachel's complex family and peer relationships add authenticity to this deliberately paced supernatural mystery. Alkaf successfully uses the oppressive mood and ominous hauntings to convey real-life terrors, from sexual violence to societal expectations, that keep young women from being heard. A gripping, perceptive read.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from December 30, 2024

Gr 9 Up-Khadijah stopped talking a long time ago, but her best friends haven't given up on her. She still attends school at St. Bernadette's Academy, a prestigious missionary school in Malaysia, and wishes things could go back to normal. Rachel is an overachiever, constantly hearing her mother's voice in her head to study harder, sleep less, achieve more. But there's more than that to life, and she wants to take a break and try acting for a change. But when the screaming begins, normal life is upended at St. Bernadette's. One day, a girl simply starts screaming and it doesn't stop. Over the course of months, more and more screamers emerge, with the school simply trying to push the phenomenon under the rug. Girls of every grade and type are affected, and Khadijah and Rachel are the only ones who seem to understand that there is some pattern in the school's history leading them to this "hysteria." A girl has disappeared before, but no one at the school wants to talk about it. A thrilling mix of ghost story and realism, this book manages to hit hard topics while not ignoring issues like Rachel's fear of letting down her mom. VERDICT A definite purchase for all libraries.-Stacey Shapiro

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.