Guinevere “Nev” Tallow is looking forward to their fresh start at Deephaven Academy, an exclusive boarding school where they’ve received a surprise scholarship. Nev’s mother vanished years before, near the end of the Depression, unable to cope with their crowded city life and needs. Their father tried too many get-rich-quick schemes and was recently hauled away by gangsters to whom he owed money. Nev themself has gotten a new haircut and clothes, “a shape more comfortable than the one they’d known”—presumably a reference to their nonbinary identity.
The school, in a secluded New England valley, is hiding secrets, however—the entire east wing has been closed off, and there are sounds of a mysterious creature stalking the halls. Nev takes it upon themself to find out what is happening, aided by new friend Danny Harper, a member of the school fencing team, but hindered by bullying prefect Thaddeus Cuttingham. Prefect Patience Sleepwell, while friendly on the surface, seems just a little too friendly, and may be hiding secrets of her own. How far will Nev go to uncover the mystery without risking their place at the academy?
Nev is a very likeable protagonist, adept with mechanical objects and with a knack for solving puzzles. They also have a penchant for “collecting” small objects that don’t belong to them; a small but rebelliously charming character flaw. I also love Nev’s badass longcoat—a trope for sure, but not one I’ve seen applied to a nonbinary character before. They wear it well.
The gloomy Deephaven is appropriately gothic and creepy, and author Ethan M. Aldridge wisely avoids making it into a clone of the wizarding school created by She Who Shall Not Be Named. It’s a boarding school, yes, but there are no “houses” for students to be sorted into and no school uniforms—in fact, Aldridge makes a point of saying that students can wear what they like, and merely wear a small metal school crest pinned to their clothes. Additionally, students don’t seem to be inherently magical, although the story’s universe does seem to allow magic to be wielded by anyone who knows how to perform certain rites. (I’m not sure we’ve learned all the secrets of the magic at work here yet, though.) The bully, Thaddeus, does seem to have some of Draco Malfoy’s privileged familial entitlement about him, but that is perhaps more a condition of many bullies and less a copying of Draco per se.
Aldridge is best known for his graphic novels, and we happily see his artistic skills in the full-page illustrations at chapter ends, although this is a prose novel.
Nev’s nonbinary identity is a non-issue—so much so, in fact, that although Nev always introduces themself as “Guinevere Tallow … Nev,” without mentioning their pronouns, the other characters instinctively know to refer to them with they/them pronouns. Aldridge has addressed this on Twitter, noting:
At no point is there a big discussion about [pronouns], other characters just intuitively use the correct pronouns. Some folks seem to strongly feel there *should* be a big discussion about [pronouns] in the story. This appears to stem from a (wonderful!) desire to teach young readers about how to deal with and understand nonbinary people in their lives. The thing is, this isn’t really that kind of book…. I wrote it to be escapist entertainment. It is not intended to be (nor am I qualified to write) a sociology lecture. Nev doesn’t explain themself because I don’t think real queer people, particularly queer kids, should be obligated to explain themselves either. Sometimes we just want to *be*, without having to justify our existence in some way. We want adventures like all other readers. Is it unrealistic that all other characters in the story just intuitively grasp this? Probably. But there’s also curses and ghosts and a kind-of werewolf. As long as we’re suspending our disbelief, let’s imagine a world where queer kids get to exist without explanation.
I 100% absolutely agree with the need for kids’ books about LGBTQ people simply having adventures, without being “about” their identities or needing to discuss or justify them—that’s why I created the “Incidental queerness” tag in this database. But don’t we also want to teach young readers that they shouldn’t assume what someone’s gender and pronouns are? And isn’t that exactly what the other characters are doing by assuming Nev uses they/them? Simply having Nev say “they/them” after they introduce themself wouldn’t require a big discussion, sociology lecture, or a justification or explanation of existence. In fact, I think it would be cool to see all the characters introduce themselves with their own pronouns and no further explanation, as if doing so was normal for everyone in the novel’s world.
Nevertheless, I can see the appeal for a young queer person to simply have their identity recognized correctly before they even have to say anything, and I am guessing that some readers will enjoy Aldridge’s approach.
There’s lots more to enjoy here, too, including the spooky setting, vivid characters, mysterious plot, and clever hero. It’s clear that Deephaven has even more secrets, as do Nev and other characters, and I look forward to future volumes in this series.
Nev is White; their best friend at the school is Black. One girl in the story has a crush on another girl; this is also seamlessly accepted.
