The Divines

A Novel

By: Ellie Eaton

Narrated by: Imogen Church

The Elin Hilderbrand Literati Book Club Pick!

Recommended by Entertainment Weekly * CNN * Harper's BAZAAR * E! Online * Refinery 29 * Bustle * Shondaland * Vulture * The Millions * Lit Hub * Electric Literature * Parade * MSN * and more!

“For when you want a coming-of-age novel with a dark twist. In this provocative novel, the past isn’t always as far away as you think.” —The Skimm

“[S]o beautifully written that I marked lines—for their perceptive genius—on nearly every page... This perfectly paced novel examines class structures and sexual identity and betrayals and tragedy in a way that had be both wanting to rip through the pages and wanting to savor each sentence until the extremely satisfying end."" —Elin Hilderbrand for Literati

Can we ever really escape our pasts?

The girls of St John the Divine, an elite English boarding school, were notorious for flipping their hair, harassing teachers, chasing boys, and chain-smoking cigarettes. They were fiercely loyal, sharp-tongued, and cuttingly humorous in the way that only teenage girls can be. For Josephine, now in her thirties, the years at St John were a lifetime ago. She hasn’t spoken to another Divine in fifteen years, not since the day the school shuttered its doors in disgrace.

Yet now Josephine inexplicably finds herself returning to her old stomping grounds. The visit provokes blurry recollections of those doomed final weeks that rocked the community. Ruminating on the past, Josephine becomes obsessed with her teenage identity and the forgotten girls of her one-time orbit. With each memory that resurfaces, she circles closer to the violent secret at the heart of the school’s scandal. But the more Josephine recalls, the further her life unravels, derailing not just her marriage and career, but her entire sense of self.

Suspenseful, provocative, and compulsively readable, The Divines explores the tension between the lives we lead as adults and the experiences that form us, probing us to consider how our memories as adults compel us to reexamine our pasts.

Imogen is always great

I usually love coming of age novels but this one really dragged on and there wasn’t enough conflict to make it interesting. I finished it because Imogen Church is such a wonderful narrator she made my time listening to this rather dull story ok.

Disappointing Ending

I was very excited for this especially after the first few chapters. Unlike other reviews I was into it the whole time. I thoroughly enjoy Imogen as a narrator and have listened to some of hers in the past. I was SO disappointed with the ending!! So much was left unsaid and not tied up at all. Very bummed.

An Okay Read

Although quite detailed I found I was forcing myself to finish the book. I didn’t find the story very compelling and thought the reader was a bit over-dramatic.

Very well written.

This story is very well written, characters throughly developed and the juxtaposition of the past and present evenly paced throughout the novel. There are not many characters you find yourself drawn to, however, and would have like to have seen one of the characters from the past reappear in the present to tie up lose ends (though it wasn’t necessary for completing the main drama). Overall, I am still thinking about it after finishing it which is a solid indicator of a good book!

my first read of the year and it’s a 5 star read for me!

i patiently (not really all that patient tbh) waited for this to release so i could finally get my hands on it. something about stories of past secrets coming back to haunt you later on that always make me keep reading to find out just how terrible it really is. i’m a bit sad with the ending though , it was great but when it was over i still had unanswered questions. i wish we could have just a few more chapters on what happened next etc. guess we will never know. i rarely write reviews but this one is well worth a read. i was skeptical because of the review on here but honestly this book really surprised me.

at times the audio was a bit unbearable but the narrator did such an impressive job at reading with the correct tones, it really amazed me. would love to listen to more from this narrator!!