Book review: Convincing tale of dysfunction and abuse

A university lecturer is confronted with her past after she gets an email 30 years after her attendance at an exclusive girls’ secondary school in Dublin, saying: 'I know what you did... If you testify, I’ll tell them everything.'

Fiona McPhillips has written a compelling story is about misogyny, snobbery, the hypocrisy of the religious order running the school and swimming club, as well as the vulnerability of adolescents and their lack of agency when abused by a trusted elder.

• When We Were Silent
• Fiona McPhillips
• Bantam, €14.99
• Review: Colette Sheridan