Let's dive into 'Where Sleeping Girls Lie'. My killer review is belatedly here.
What lies dormant is unleashed in this highly anticipated thriller that does not drown in its hype. Breaking through that glass ceiling and brings a whole new meaning to a “fish out of water” story.
Content Warning
I want to emphasise that this book will be covering topics such as sexual assault, rape, revenge porn, drug use, suicide, grief, and death of family members (including parents). If you are sensitive to these issues present, please do refrain from reading as it can potentially trigger feelings of anxiety, trauma and stress, particularly towards survivors. This book is about survival and it is of the utmost importance that survivors feel comfortable when reading such work. Solidarity with you and if you want more information, please visit: www.faridahabikeiyimide.com/wsgl-content-warnings
Synopsis
In Where Sleeping Girls Lie ― a YA contemporary mystery by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, the New York Times-bestselling author of Ace of Spades ― a girl new to boarding school discovers dark secrets and coverups after her roommate disappears. Sade Hussein is starting her third year of high school, this time at the prestigious Alfred Nobel Academy boarding school. After being home-schooled all her life and feeling like a magnet for misfortune, she’s not sure what will happen. What she doesn’t expect though is for her roommate Elizabeth to disappear after Sade’s first night. Or for people to think she had something to do with it. It doesn’t help that she’s already dealing with grief from the many tragedies in her family. And then a student is found dead. The more Sade investigates, the more she realises there’s more to Alfred Nobel Academy and its students than she realised.
The Playlist
I refer to this playlist as ‘Where Sleeping Beats Lie’. A dozen songs to listen to while reading, some more obvious than others [Analysis as to why in the spoiler discussion]
Am I Dreaming - Metro Boom
Can’t Stop - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Do You Realise?? - The Flaming Lips
Dreams - The Cranberries
If You Wanna - The Vaccines
Lonely Boy - The Black Keys
Love Lost - The Temper Trap
One Way Or Another - Blondie
Psycho - Santan Dave
Rebel Girl - Bikini Kill
Slip Away - Perfume Genius
The Pretenders - Foo Fighters
Spoiler Free Review
Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé has done it again. After an incredible and seismic debut with Ace Of Spades, she’s taken another turn at a mysterious YA thriller. This time set in a traditional boarding-school, that teaches the next generation of elites. We meet recently-orphaned Sade Hussein, who is as new to the illustrious Alfred Nobel Academy(ANA) as we are. Sade, haunted by past tragedies is now seemingly set to begin her life anew, free from the shackles of home-school and her recently deceased father, making her the sole heiress to his fortune. However, she is rapidly tangled up in the disappearance of her new roommate, Elizabeth Wang. When the school leadership refuses to follow up on Elizabeth’s case, Sade teams up with Basil Dos Santos aka Baz, Elizabeth’s quirky and hilarious best friend, in a desperate effort to uncover the truth. As rumours buzz around her, Sade catches the attention of the most popular girls in school, collectively known as the ‘Unholy Trinity’, who in turn, invite Sade into their pack. Between learning more about them, playing catch-up in class, catching the eye of some of the popular boys, and trying to figure out what happened to Elizabeth, Sade has a lot to dive into.
Àbíké-Íyímídé stated in an interview earlier this year that she was inspired by the “gentlemen’s-club-esque culture that exists inside a lot of schools, where violence happens and it is excused and brushed under the rug”. Her love of boarding schools is on display here, having fun naming these houses when only a few have relevance to the story, such as Hawking and Turing. I also appreciate the investigatory work done in this book that gave off ‘Veronica Mars’ energy, particularly with the darker aspects that this book touches on. From minute one, there is something wrong, Sade herself feels out of place, shortly begins the disappearance of Elizabeth, and the escalation begins. As the plot progresses there are a series of deeply disturbing twists. Àbíké-Íyímídé has composed a structure that is almost as vast as the world building of Alfred Nobel. It does a great job to reflect the patriarchal reality that we live in.
The consequence of ridiculous privilege, entitlement, toxic masculinity and being perceived as untouchable are all on display. This can feel all too real, especially when there are countless examples of “boys being boys” and getting away with it. For me personally, I’m reminded of the Steubenville High School case, a dark and sadly familiar story of affluence and sexual abuse. However, Àbíké-Íyímídé explicitly connects her story to the disappearance and death of Oluwatoyin Salau, which I certainly recommend looking up. There’s also other influences that could be drawn from this, such as Soma Sara’s investigation into many of the facets of rape culture that is pervasive in British schools, leading to the creation of her ‘Everyone's Invited’ website. Not to mention Laura Bates’ ‘Everyday Sexism’ project, which became a anonymous account of sexual harassment experiences from survivors. A certain plot point reminded me of such survivor discourse too.
This author wants to empower girls, fearlessly highlighting it. Presenting us a world where there can be an outlet of resistance to such power. However, she also makes it clear that the rot can’t easily be rooted out, it requires an ongoing process of resistance, support, and accountability. For the most part, I found this intensely gripping, the underlying political and cultural messages were powerful and undeniably relevant. Similarly, schoolboys are revealed to be duplicitous at their core, masking their malicious and predatory desires. It also gives us the need for self introspection, particularly the male readers of this book such as myself, how many times have we witnessed misogyny and never done anything about it, or simply chalked it off as normal behaviour.
This book has a great cast of characters, and even though we are whisked away into a private and rich boarding school with old money backing it since, well, forever, a lot of the characters we see are people of colour. Whether it's the British/Nigerian Muslim main character, Sade, who can never seem to find halal options or the lovable Brazilian idiot Basil Dos Santos, who has a Jammy Dodger addiction. In fact, I appreciated the graphics that the author had shared on social media before the book’s release, which I’ve used. Àbíké-Íyímídé also leaned into the mean black girl trope and uses it to her advantage. In turn, making April a deeply interesting and more integral character than anyone could have predicted, not just a surprise but a brilliant writing choice, intertwining the two is the hallmark of a great author. And as Àbíké-Íyímídé said, “More than anything, this book is about survival”. No surprise that Hamlet was considered an inspiration for this book as well, considering it portrays themes of death, revenge and suicide to name a few. All on display in this young adult thriller. Be sure to read this book if you haven’t already, and come back to this piece for the detailed spoiler discussion!
The Verdict:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spoiler Discussion
“Name and purpose?” was the question posed to Sade by the security guard when she arrived at ANA. Little did he and all of us know what her purpose actually was. Our main character happens to be a swimmer, the very sport that seems to be all the rage in the very school she’s applying to. While stating that she has no plans to become a swimmer, initially I attributed this as a helpful plot convenience but the real reason is a lot more calculated. The words “you shouldn’t have come” reverberate around our protagonist constantly, shaking her when she is possibly out of her depth, making a terrible decision, and it all started with her choosing to attend a school in the first place. Again, we could have ascribed that to plot convenience as well, but it was clear from the start that her subconscious was telling her that she should not avenge her sister.
This whole book, the very plot, is happening because Sade’s sister had killed herself, after she was raped, and was expelled from her school instead of given the helped she needed. By the time Sade was able to reconnect with her, it was just too late. Jude is the primordial reason as to why her sister is no longer alive, he got away with it, boys like him usually do, especially with the amount of nepotism on his side. He was able to transfer to another school without so much as a fuss, and a clean record. That school was Albert Nobel Academy, throwing things into motion. Sade and Jamila were close once, but Jamila was the favourite and Sade always held it against her. Even after losing his wife through suicide, he still couldn’t open his heart to his girls and failed both of them. He himself had passed away before the start of the book, and Sade is all on her own.
It is her (or so she thought) against the world, from the very beginning, the gears began turning, more than she could believe was possible. The very first student that we met was Elizabeth Wang, who could not believe the appearance of our main character and thought she was seeing a ghost. The ghost of Jamila, who she knew as PBJam08, a name behind a screen, a friend who hated Jude as much as she did, who she hasn’t been in contact with since her death, and clearly had no knowledge of it. As if it was meant to be, both of these girls were paired together, not knowing that the other knew someone they were close to, someone who was a sister and a friend. Someone who is no longer in this world because of a boy that they both hate, the rapist Jude Ripley.
It is abundantly clear how much Jude’s death meant in terms of the story. Sade had seemingly killed her sister’s rapist, albeit unintentionally. However, it does not end there. Before any of this had even transpired, Persephone had called him a rapist directly to Sade, we thought we learned at the same time as Sade, hence her reaction. But her reaction was that of shock because she didn’t expect Persephone to know. To know what she did, after reading her late sister’s diary. I thought that this was the very diary that is scattered around the book between chapters, initially I thought this was Elizabeth communicating with us, the viewer. Then I thought it was Jamila, after the reveal, but it turned out that it was April all along. The leader of the “unholy trinity”, Elizabeth's former roommate and as it turned out, a previous survivor of Jude. Sade, Jamila, Elizabeth, Persephone and April were all linked by that chain of male abuse and narcissism.
My head could not process the reveals, one after another. We learn that there’s a conspiracy around Elizabeth’s disappearance, an investigation ensues, we then turn attention to Jude Ripley, who is revealed to be a rapist, and then dies. As if this wasn’t enough, it is revealed that not only had Jude threatened Persephone, he had also raped Jamila, as well as Elizabeth and April. My head was hot as all of this was unravelling, Persephone was right, he had it coming. Someone who had inflicted so much pain with no consequence, but all life comes to an end, our mortality is more fragile than we think and at any fleeting moment we could leave this world. Something that Sade knows all too well, she thinks that she’s a beacon for death, it follows her around and will never escape her.
She had killed Jude, laced his drink with rohypnol and that was that. His last words indicate that he finally recognized who Sade really was, a fact that we should have considered, after someone from Nightingale Academy had thought they recognized Sade, they were in fact thinking of her late sister. Nothing happens by chance or coincidence in a book, it is written by someone who wants you to pay attention, any off hand comment or character interaction can be the author screaming “Hello! You better remember this!”. I was so engrossed that I just wanted to know what happened to Elizabeth, dead end after dead end, and for some reason Sade was occupying the rest of her time dating Jude I had initially thought of it as nothing other than a simple b plot in the back of my mind, how wrong I was.
Where Sleeping Beats Lie
Now onto the playlist. A dozen songs that I felt described the book thematically, some of which I have yet to mention, so they have helped to aid in this review. It is quite unorthodox, but I quite enjoyed finding music that I’ve found to be intersecting with this book. First, I want to talk about ‘Psycho’ from Santan Dave. While Dave’s upbringing was quite different from Sade’s, especially in terms of wealth, both struggled in their own ways. I believe the final verses of this song resonates with this book the most;
You ever fall 'sleep 'case you don't wanna be awake?
In a way, you're tired of the reality you face?
If you're thinking 'bout doing it
Suicide doesn't stop the pain, you're only moving it
Lives that you're ruining
Thoughts of a world without you in it, hiding
I ain't psycho but my life is
Not only does this mention the thought of suicide, but how just like Sade can be enveloped when she’s asleep because she doesn’t want to be haunted, she also doesn’t want to stay awake either and face a life without her sister in it. Jamila’s pain didn’t stop with her death, it had moved to Sade, and while the latter isn’t a psycho, her life certainly is. Especially with how this story escalates. The song “Psycho” helps describe and understand the pain that Sade goes through, but songs like “do you realize??” showcase how painful grief is when you miss someone who you can never forget. This just doesn’t describe Sade, but also Elizabeth, as she misses Jamila as well. Which leads me to talk about “Love Lost”, a hopeful and optimistic song about finding a lost love and working to rebuild the relationship. The lost love in this instance is Jamila, both of them miss her and while both were planning a scheme of retribution, they meet by chance and became friends. Almost like it was bound to happen.
Two songs that I want to mention in tandem with one another are “Can’t Stop” and “The Pretenders” as both of these describe how far into Sade was with her deception, hiding not only who she truly was, but what exactly she wanted to achieve. Furthermore, she couldn’t cease it at any point, there was no going back after Jude was killed. Speaking of Jude, I should bring up the song “One Way Or Another” as this has probably the most straightforward meaning of any of the choices. The very nature of stalking is implied to involve a perceived romantic interest in the victim, but with Sade, she was motivated by disdain and that was shown in her mind throughout their interactions with one another, Sade was at no point fooled by him and read him like an open book. The following lyrics don’t need any commentary on why they’re thematically relevant;
One way, or another, I'm gonna find ya
I'm gonna meet ya, meet ya, meet ya, meet ya
One way, or another, I'm gonna win ya, I'll get ya, I'll get ya
One way, or another, I'm gonna see ya
I'm gonna meet ya, meet ya, meet ya, meet ya
One day, maybe next week, I'm gonna meet ya
I also want to mention songs that I included because of Elizabeth specifically, these being “Lonely Boy” and “If You Wanna”. The former describes her former relationship with August. The track partly talks about a man who believes he is so far above everyone else, particularly the woman he is seeing, and their relationship can be summed up like that. A part of him might have cared for her, saving her from certain death, but ultimately he never truly cared for her enough to be with her and if she had been killed, he would have been at the very least, partly responsible. Not to mention his involvement in leaking their private videos, no partner like that could ever truly be in love, and his actions in regard to saving her could easily be chalked up to self preservation and guilt. In doing so, he called his sister, April, Elizabeth’s former roommate and friend. It was surprising to learn that they were on great terms, so much so that they’d have a secret hangout spot, but ultimately it all fell apart thanks to Jude yet again. This is where the aforementioned “If You Wanna” comes into play, as it is a song that delves into the complexities of a breakup and the desire for reconciliation. These two became close again after April had saved her, took care of her, and tried to help Sade in any way she could.
After this, there is also “Slip Away”. Which, particularly, had a lot to do with finding kinship and companionship with female friends. The song describes this close and intimate friendship between women, where it is them against the world. Fittingly describing many of the female friendships in this book. Personally, I think I have saved the best for last with this final three. Next up are “Am I Dreaming”, and “Dreams”. The former indicates that Sade feels like they are struggling a lot and are not sure whether they are dreaming or not, and they are looking for someone who can relate to them. Roisee's verse also talks about her own personal struggles and how she cannot just give up and walk away. She feels like no one is on her side and few believe in her. Overall, it is a song about resilience in times of adversity. Something very prominent in this book.
Now in reference to “Dreams”, it segues perfectly into the final 2 tracks as the idea of the title is meant to relay that her finding this person is tantamount to one of her “dreams” coming true. And overall her being in love is having a positive transformative effect on her life. This is a sensation that she is obviously looking forward to holding onto as long as possible. Not only this, but the aquatic and underwater backdrop of the music video perfectly aligns with this book, almost poetically. This is a very hopeful song, where Dolores O'Riordan sings about someone special who she meets and is distracted with such joy, "I wrote that about my first love when I was living in Ireland, it's about feeling really in love for the first time." Very appropriate considering how Sade found herself hot and flustered. I also want to highlight the lyrics below too, which can also describe Sade’s thoughts about Persephone, reminding me of how Sade’s sombre dreams were able to diverge into something more sapphic.
And now I tell you openly
You have my heart so don't hurt me
You're what I couldn't find
A totally amazing mind
So understanding and so kind
You're everything to me
Oh, my life is changing everyday
In every possible way
And oh, my dreams
It's never quite as it seems
'Cause you're a dream to me
Dream to me
The last song I want to discuss is “Rebel Girl”, which I think perfectly encapsulates the relationship between Sade and Persephone. There was always an attraction between these two, which started off as simple curiosity but then the tension became palpable. I understand the criticism in regards to how this book is billed as a sapphic story when there was a lack of queer romance. Although, this is understandable in context. With Sade being primarily motivated to enact her retribution, a potential relationship with Persephone was merely on the periphery, until the confrontation happened. Before then, we see them paired together in English class, and progressively becoming more flirtatious with one another, a very slow burn. When Sade poured her heart out, she expected to be condemned, but was met with love, respect and empathy. It is what she needed, in fact what both of them needed and what makes their relationship really special. I do want to circle back to the song that I mentioned at the start of this paragraph. The whole song is about this unconditional love for your best friend. She doesn't care what people think about her, and to Sade, Persephone is her rebel girl, the coolest and most perfect person in the world. Per the song lyrics, the revolution really was coming with Persephone, she helped mastermind the plan to expose the fishermen and eventually became the head girl.
The Theme Of Drowning
One has to wonder how much thought Àbíké-Íyímídé put into the various ways that Sade was drowning in this book. She’s drowning in her thoughts, her grief, her guilt, her schoolwork, her revenge, and almost literally when she held her breath under water to compete with August. She feels like the walls are closing in on her. The words “you shouldn’t have come” haunt her throughout this book. At first, we can easily dismiss this as anxiety or simply being scared of the unknown. But the truth is that she’s being dragged down by her past, almost possessed by the ghost of her late sister, warning her that she is making a mistake. Not because she’s simply attending a school and wanting to see a world that she never got to witness before, but because she’s doing this to get revenge, a dangerous endeavour and we see how much so in this book, not everything goes to plan and maybe she should have heeded the previous deterrent before this descent into the unknown.
Sade talks in her sleep, as noted by Persephone, the constant cries of “I’m sorry” pang her heart with guilt even when she is unconscious, she can never escape it, not in her dreams, not in her sleep. It is clear that whatever escape Sade can find, she latches onto it, her investigation into Elizabeth’s disappearance seemingly becomes her utmost priority, not just because she cares about her but because it is a welcome distraction from the reality of why she’s there in the first place. Whenever she thinks about revenge, Jamila is there as a reminder, or as she sees it, a bad omen. Drowning is not only how she feels in this story, but it is also how her sister died, in that lake, an image that will never escape her memory. And while Jude does not die by drowning, he is suffocated, an act of death that is different but so similar. A timely end to a rapist who would corner and do his best to stifle the power others possess.
Personal Highlights
Overall, there are some specific points of this book that I want to talk about in particular. The first is when Sade was giving a presentation about the villain in Macbeth for her English Lit class. She talked about how the true villain was Shakespeare himself, by writing Lady Macbeth as a reflection of what he hates in a woman, and it describes his own failings in marriage. I was reading this on the train and couldn't help but smile throughout. It was such a brilliant examination of the book and rightfully so, her classmates were too stunned to speak. I have to give it to Àbíké-Íyímídé here, she nailed this and most likely a reflection of her own opinion, considering she has a literal Master’s Degree in the subject. Another moment is one with plot relevance, Elizabeth became my favourite character when we finally understood what she was doing. She did research on the swim team, found out what ‘The Fishermen’ were, decoded the names in the private group and eventually found out the identity of everyone in it. An impressive feat in of itself and she made sure to back up her data on the walls of her dorm room. I love the “Connect the Deaths” trope, it’s one of the biggest reasons why I find murder mysteries to be so addictive.
Furthermore, I also want to talk about how painfully realistic it was to see the school protect these boys. I despised Headmaster Webber, and really disliked Mrs Blackburn for the majority of the book, especially when she tried to lecture Baz while Elizabeth was being sent to the hospital. It was one of the most satisfying moments of the book, up there with Sade’s final moments with Jude. He verbally destroyed the aforementioned teacher with a relentless putdown that should be framed. As opposed to Ace of Spades, the staff at this school are much more grounded and realistic, ultimately making them even more frustrating, for the very reasons that Baz said so poignantly in his rant. This school cared more about defending rapists than looking for a student who went missing on their grounds. When Elizabeth was sent to hospital, the topic of the subsequent school assembly was about taking down the ‘Not So Noble’ website and not her, which just about says it all.
Regretfully, I haven’t mentioned Francis at all and how his story developed through the course of the book. When we meet him, he’s disinterested, clearly doesn’t even want to be in school and takes a smoke break whenever he fancies. The stepson of the Headmaster, it was a surprising reveal that not only did he kill Jude, but he wasn’t involved in ‘The Fisherman’ at all. The relationship between him and April was also surprisingly wholesome, murder aside. Initially billed as a superficial pairing, due to their perceived equal stature in the school hierarchy, it turns out that Francis killed Jude for April, she in turn repaid that by confessing to his murder and making the charges disappear with help from her family’s finances. Even though Sade deduced this, as well as April’s own trauma, it leads us to understand that Francis was not far off his own perception of Macbeth. In his own words, Macbeth was forced “to do all this shit he didn’t want to do because he was whipped. Not his fault that he loved her and she abused his love.” It is with remarkable irony that April is his Lady Macbeth. He loved her and would do anything for her.
Conclusion
This book was long, arduous and so thrilling to finish. After Ace of Spades, it would have been so hard for anyone to follow up such a gem but Àbíké-Íyímídé not only accomplished it but she created something that is brilliant in its own right. This review has been a labour of love for me, there was so much that I wanted to say and I’m very proud with how it turned out, whether it looks like a jumbled mess or not. From the very first page, the author tells us that this is a story about survival and she delivered in more ways than one. This wasn’t just Sade’s story, but one of sisterhood and friendship. From the moment we meet Elizabeth, being introduced to the ‘unholy trinity’, the revelation about Jamila and the truth that April kept hidden behind her icy demeanour, one born out of her own survival. I give credit where it is due and this book was truly exceptional and it is a shame that I’ve read reviews where that sentiment is not the same. I recommend you to re-read and to listen to the audiobook if you get the chance, it is truly brilliant. Hell, it even made me appreciate the ‘lie’ in the title of the book, it indeed had more than one meaning. As well as the last line, “Keep swimming. Or if that’s too hard, at the very least, float.” Helpful advice for any and all of us.