The Housemistress

For a lot of seventeen-year-old girls, being sent to a same-sex boarding school would be a nightmare for one simple reason: No boys. But that’s really not a problem for sixth form student Rylie Harcourt. Instead, what might prove somewhat difficult to overcome is the school’s strict policy concerning on-campus relationships. All sexual contact is expressly forbidden. Carnal pursuits are a distraction from learning, so says the Headmistress, and virtue is to be as highly regarded as education—if not higher. This harsh ban on expressions of love becomes especially problematic when Rylie meets her new French Housemistress, Vivienne Carriveau, and attraction sparks. In a sexless environment, thirty-one-year-old Mademoiselle Carriveau is a magnet for the affections of her hormonal, adolescent students. Competition for her attention is fierce, and when it starts to become clear that Rylie’s burgeoning interest in her is reciprocated in equal measure, tension among the student body rises to a deadly level.