Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for an honest review. I was intrigued by the gothic setting of this book.
The opens with a compelling prologue scene. Told from the POV of a journalist who is outside Victoria’s building after her story has been published in the media. The journalist is investigating a story that took place 25 years ago when an art teacher ran off with his student and both disappeared. Shockingly Victoria responds by jumping off her office building.
Rewind 25-years before when Louisa arrives at Temple House, a boarding school run by strict nuns, where she meet Victoria and Mr Lovelle, their young and bohemian art teacher... Both timelines meet as we try to figure out the answer to the disappearance.
I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of this book. It was a real page turner. I loved the setting and the switch from present to the past. I did, however, enjoy the present narrative slightly more as that had the most suspense and thriller element to it. Louisa’s narrative was gripping, too, with echoes of The Secret History, but her storyline just doesn’t get there, and then there’s the ending, which was disappointing and stretched plausibility. Thus the 3/5

A convent school for adolescent girls employs a good looking young arts teacher, giving him free rein to teach as he pleases and surprise surprise there is trouble! What were those nuns thinking! A trio of infatuated girls cause intrigue and mayhem resulting in the suicide of one and the accidental/intended death of another. The narrative is shared between a nameless journalist, who for some unknown reason takes an interest in the story 25yrs later and Louisa who we finally discover is telling her story from the grave! The story is slow moving, flowery, full of ambiguity and sadly a bit of a waste of time!

Shades of Malory Towers for adults, and Picnic at Hanging Rock. Louisa gets a scholarship to attend a Catholic boarding school for girls, she is the outsider but is soon befriended by Victoria, one of the privileged girls. They are taught by a charismatic young art teacher and the girls are drawn to him. What is going on? Is he having a relationship with one, or more of the students? This novel is full of twists and turns, and when Louisa and the art teacher go missing, we are not told immediately what has happened to them. An intriguing mystery that has the feel of a ghost story. It is atmospheric and well worth reading.

A strange tale of live and love in an all girls boarding school. Lots of twists and turns especially towards the end.

An experiment by an “Elite” catholic girl's school to offer scholarships to bright but poor students leads to Louisa taking up a place.
Probably typical of such and experiment, the scholarship girls are looked down on and not made to feel at all welcome by the other pupils or by the nuns.
Louisa is befriended by Victoria and almost becomes besotted by her and also by their charismatic art teacher, Mr Lavelle. I did find it quite strange in such a cloistered environment that he was allowed to teach them unsupervised.
One night Louisa and Mr Lavelle disappear and no trace of them is found.
Fast forward 25 years and a Journalist sets about writing some pieces about the disappearance and finally manages to interview Victoria and one of the other girls. The journalist just happens to have lived opposite Louisa's father's house and was once babysat by Louisa.
The book switches between the Journalist's narrative and that of Louisa. Sometimes I found it confusing with Louisa's narrative as to who was saying what to whom.
As the story unravels, it becomes obvious as to what has happened, but the epilogue is something else and is quite cleverly done.
A rather dark read especially as it is set in Autumn/Winter and it is by the sea and it is always cold. I didn't find any of the characters particularly likeable or felt I had any empathy with them.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in return for an honest review.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. This was a good first novel that was full of suspense and intrigue. Well done author.

Atmospheric and intriguing, The Temple House Vanishing was a very enjoyable read!

In an elite Catholic girls' boarding-school the pupils live under the repressive, watchful gaze of the nuns. Seeking to break from the cloistered atmosphere two of the students - Louisa and Victoria - quickly become infatuated with their young, bohemian art teacher, and act out passionately as a result. That is, until he and Louisa suddenly disappear.

This is a book that makes you evaluate, and re-evaluate any choice you've made in life, how they can all add up and result in something you never planned. The characters are flawed, relatable and interesting, with Donohue unafraid to make you dislike them at certain turns in the road. You'll want to tear through this book in one sitting, but try and take your time!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atlantic Books for the ARC!

Rachel Donohue has written a powerful story about teenage insecurities, jealousy, angst, love - and cruelty. I found the story slow to get started but the writing is very good and pulls the reader along. The sense of place was well wrought although dark, gloomy, brooding houses on clifftops are standard fare in such tales. The way the story moved from character to character with each written in first person was compelling. I liked the ending very much and feel as though this is a story that will stay with me. Five stars. And thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Found this a bit slow and didn’t really go anywhere. Not fast paced enough for me. A bit predictable too!

Pleasant but forgettable. The tale of 2 girls and one teacher, nothing new here. The writing is pleasant but the story slow and unoriginal. It is a shame as the epilogue is actually really good.

I thought the book started off very well but it lost me halfway through. I did read to the end wanting to find out what had happened but was disappointed by the ending.

The mains characters, Louise and Victoria, albeit teenage girls, were irritating and unlikeable. This wouldn't normally be a problem for me but I had no sympathy for either of them, even Louise coming from a poor background and finding her way in a snobbish unfriendly environment such as Temple House.

The Temple House Vanishing is evocatively written and will appeal to readers of similar mysteries set in spooky atmospheres. Suspect it might be a Marmite book, readers will either love or hate it. Many thanks to NetGalley and

I found this difficult to warm to and I hoped that if I continued with it, I would become more interested in the mystery. The story wasn’t holding my attention due to the fact that I found the main characters of Louisa and Victoria irritating. Overall this was a underwhelming reading experience.

I really, really struggled to finish this book but press forward in the hope it would turn around. Sadly that was just not the case. There's no doubt the author is a great writer, poetic, almost, but the plot is simply awful. Absolutely nothing of interest or excitement happens and all of the characters are incredibly dull. I just simply did not care what happened to them in the past, present or future.

A newspaper journalist comes across a story, the twenty- five-year-old unsolved mystery of the disappearance of a pupil and her male teacher from an elite convent school. She does some research on Louisa and Mr Lavelle, looking for an angle for a series of articles.
Sadly, when an ex-convent girl approaches a novel like this with a head full of her own memories and of Antonia White and Kate O’Brien, then liking it was always going to be a tall order. The opening is closer to confusing rather than successfully blurring the lines as a device, and this probably provides too many clues as to whom the voices in the chapters actually belong.
But there are a lot of good things in this read. The descriptions of the elite but run-down boarding school feel authentic and atmospheric, the polished tables and dark wood in the receiving rooms, and the grainy pink marble of the altar in the chapel. Louisa and Victoria with rampant repressed teenage emotions, rebelling against religion and making the search for love and romance their only aim is well done. I liked Helen, the head girl and the misplaced authority and jealously provided by her, and the revelation of Mr Lavelle as a guy way way out of his depth worked.
It is difficult to imagine that Mr Lavelle with his uncertain history could even be teaching in such a place, and the pupils just seemed to be left to their own devices too much.
There is somewhat too much philosophising from Louisa, but you can understand why. A good gothic thriller.

Clever and atmospheric. I didn't like any of the characters - but I don't mind that. It's always interesting when there are flawed main characters. The school setting is eerie and creepy, only just within the bounds of believable, but forms such a perfect backdrop for the weird behaviour.

This is Donohue's second novel and a departure from the first.
It evokes a familiar storyline: Catholic school set on a cliff; students intruiged by the young art teacher; scholarship student caught in a web of neglect....but Donohue moves away from cliche and creates a beautiful tapestry told by two characters.
Louisa is the scholarship girl, smart but not savvy in the ways of the rich and powerful, who seduce the nuns with their money and influence. Victoria, wealthy and privileged, becomes her friend and intellectual peer. Headgirl, Helen is part of this power suite. Mr Lavelle, the young and seemingly hollow art teacher attracts them all. It feels earlier than 1990 but then these issues are timeless.
The journalist tries to unravel the mystery of the disappearance of Louisa for a newspaper series but also to appease her own knowledge of Louisa.
Haunting and curious, the story is hard to forget. We hear the young voice of Louisa and the older, but still youthful voice of the novice journalist as the two stories move closer to intersection and some kind of resolution.
Donohue's prose is spare and makes the reader work hard but the result is very satisfying indeed.

I came close to giving up on this book. It is such a slow simmer of a story. I'm glad I didn't though as it 5urns into a fantastic one later. I found It to be thought provoking too. How intense teenage life is. As though they make a solid foundation of how life will pan out. Between the ages of 16 and 18 we feel so adult.

I read an advance review copy of the book. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

What a delightfully written thriller of a book, and an excellent debut novel. The Temple House Vanishing draws you into the mystery immediately, and the beginning sets the premise for an intriguing story of mystery, unrequited love -or is it- and passion, intertwined with an overrated Catholic girls' boarding school with the expected mean girl, horrid nuns, a maverick teacher and the two central characters, two odd girls who gravitate toward each other in an oppressive setting. And the perspective of both a 16 year old victim and the articulate journalist determined to uncover the truth a quarter of a century later is a page-turning style to contend with. It's not fast-paced, but it kept me engaged right until the climax.

It's nearing the 25th Anniversary of when a pupil and teacher disappeared from their elite Catholic Boarding school.. A journalist with vague links to the sixteen year old Louisa feels there is more mystery to unravel and seeks to research and write about the main players including Louisa's best friend Victoria, now a high flyer in the City and former Head Girl, the flinty and obnoxious Helen.

Louisa is a scholarship girl who finds the rules and regulations difficult and bonds almost instantly with gorgeous rich girl Victoria. They quickly form a deep friendship and spend most of their free time together. Victoria believes their dashing Art Teacher, Edward Lavelle is her destiny and she's head over heels in love and he with her. It's a tale of unrequited love and teenage angst set in the drafty old school and amongst the overgrown and rambling grounds.

It's a exquisite debut with interesting characters, twisty storylines, secrets, lies, love, friendship and that twist left me absolutely reeling! I absolutely adored the story and would highly recommend.

Twenty five years ago a scandal hits a Catholic girls boarding school. What happened between Mr Lavelle, Louisa and Victoria? What are the nuns hiding? Are the prefects actually perfect? After Mr Lavelle and Louisa mysteriously disappear the infatuation, obsession and unrequited love emerge after being investigated by a journalist during the 25th anniversary. A guessing game to the end leading up the actual events of the night kept me turning the pages towards the end.

This was a slow starter and a dark, brooding tale that took a while to get hooked but I thoroughly enjoyed it In the end.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC copy. I would highly recommend.