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.

An atmospheric novel reminiscent of Picnic at Hanging Rock, but a later era
Told alternately by Louisa and twenty five years later by an investigative journalist , it’s a slow burner but an engaging mystery.
Louisa is sixteen and very clever when she wins a scholarship to a catholic boarding school run by nuns. She’s flattered when she is befriended by Victoria, another student and they both become in awe of the young and charismatic art teacher, Mr Lavalle. With petty jealousies and raging hormones it’s almost inevitable that disaster will strike- and indeed it does. Louisa disappears as does the young art teacher.
Twenty five years later we eventually find the answer

Temple House is a second rate girls boarding school that thinks it’s first rate or at least some of the incumbents do, especially the nuns that run it. In September 1990 Louisa, a very clever 16 year old girl, is offered a scholarship at Temple House which she accepts but she is looked down on particularly by the girls who are fee paying. In her art class she meets fellow student Victoria and her art teacher Mr Lavelle. Victoria mesmerises Louisa and it appears as if she is her only friend. They become an ‘army of three’. Lavelle is 25 and handsome in a movie star way and so of course with young feminists hormones raging several girls including Victoria fall for his bohemian charms in this well depicted school setting. What unfolds is dramatic at times and certainly mysterious as by Christmas Lavelle and Louisa have disappeared. Together? Maybe. Dead? Possibly. The case is investigated and unsolved until a journalist ex neighbour of Louisa’s becomes involved and the truth emerges. This is a story of lies and silence, love and obsession, of insiders and outsiders, of doomed friendship and loss, of sacrifice and haunting, dominated by class snobbery and delusion. The story is told from the time by Louisa and from 2015 by the journalist.

This is a well written debut by Rachel Donoghue and I’m sure we’ll be hearing her name a lot in the future as her writing is very powerful. The characters are well created although not all are likeable. Helen the Head Girl is cold, a snob, she is cruel and judgemental with a rod firmly stuck up her backside. Victoria uses people and is delusional, Louisa is a shape shifter, desperate to fit in but so uncertain of herself and unsure of what the rules are. She is very likeable as her feelings seem to be true. Lavelle is the shaman who exerts control over his fawns, then pulls back if they try for more than he is prepared to give. He is naive and probably despicable. The novel is full of atmosphere created by the coastal setting with the backdrop of the school with the nuns in their garbs and ceremony but with sharp tongues and piercing eyes. The season of autumn to winter adds an extra dimension too. The ending is very good - it is tragic, shocking and also ghostly with redemption denied by those responsible.

Overall, a very good book which is well written and which unfolds effortlessly. The emotions of the central characters comes across strongly and gives you a whole range of emotions. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atlantic Books for the ARC. Publication date 20/2/20.

The story itself is a little tried and tested, but Donohue has executed her ideas with beautiful, atmospheric writing.

The title is intriguing; the blurb captivating. It’s a shame that this novel didn’t really take off - for me, anyway.

Louisa wins a scholarship to a Catholic boarding school somewhere in Ireland. There, she is befriended by the elusive Victoria and gets caught up in the strange world of art teacher Mr Lavelle and his summer-house lessons. Louisa isn’t popular; she’s bullied by Helen, a prefect, and all she really wants is Victoria - and Mr Lavelle.

The novel’s structure changes - later on, the viewpoints change to include a journalist, who is investigating the disappearance of Louisa and Mr Lavelle from years before, and then from Louisa’s perspective herself. I’m not sure that the switching really works.

The premise behind the novel is strong. However, even though the Temple House is menacing and creepy, there’s no real sense of this being an Irish novel - I think being more rooted in the country would help. Towards the end, when we discover the truth behind the ‘vanishing’, it’s quite implausible that Louisa’s body lay undiscovered near the school for all those years. Surely, a ledge near the swimming pool would have been an obvious place to look?

I really wanted to like this novel more. However, the thriller conventions fall quite flat for me. Part of it reminded me of The Secret History but the plot seems to reach too many dead ends and could have been more exciting. Having said this if does capture the claustrophobic atmosphere of a stuffy, nun-led boarding school at a time not that long ago that wouldn’t have been particularly pleasant for anyone..