Welcome to Dorley Hall

There’s much to admire in this provocative blend of fairy tale and horror from debut novelist Greaves. In 2012, self-loathing British teen Stefan Riley is devastated when his only friend, Mark Vogel, vanishes from the Royal College of Saint Almsworth (popularly, “Saints”). As weeks turn into months without a trace—save for Stef’s curious supermarket encounter with an attractive young woman who could pass for Mark’s twin—he continues to search, discovering that, over the years, dozens of boys have disappeared while attending the university. Stef’s theory? Someone at Saints, specifically in the women’s residence of Dorley Hall, is operating a secret program to help closeted trans girls transition—and he wants in. Two years into his own stint at Saints, Stef wakes up the morning after a party where he’d drunkenly grilled the charming, auburn-haired Christine, only to find himself locked into a concrete cell in Dorley Hall’s basement. From there, the plot splits, with one thread tracing Stef’s fate and the other following Christine and the rest of the Dorley sisterhood. Though the pacing drags at times, and the attempt to give the Dorley program a sympathetic origin story seems forced, Greaves deserves credit for crafting such a unique and darkly funny narrative. This one’s hard to forget. (Oct.)