An audio book. In the prologue Victoria commits suicide after there's a story about her in the press about events 25 years before.
Then we're in Louisa's PoV, 1990. She's 16, from a poor family whose parents are separating. She's won a scholarship to Temple House, a Catholic school by the sea, run by nuns. We follow her first day, the narrative full of colours. They are shown a nun laid to rest - like an initiation. The art lesson with Mr Lavelle, 25, is in a summer house beyond a dishevelled garden, the vine around the door growing inside. She meets Victoria, who seems to have a thing going with the teacher. He sees Victoria and Louisa after lessons of Friday. Victoria, from a rich family, beautiful, wants to be a writer or muse. She's into the Bloomsbury set. Louisa with striking looks and clever, thinks about her identity too. She says she prefers Beckett.
So far the prose doesn't impress, and the art lesson setting seems too predictable.
On the 25th anniversary of Louisa and Lavelle's disappearance, we change PoV to a female journalist who grew up opposite Louisa's house. She's told to write some articles. Lavelle was a fraud. The school closed a year after the incident. The ex-head girl Helen tells her not to pester ex-schoolgirls any more. The detective tells her that the nuns seemed more interested in preserving their reputation than providing information. The journalist is at pains to claim that she has worthy reason to investigate.
We return to Louisa's PoV. I like when she thinks about religion, belief in love, and Victoria. Her section uses the past tense and "Mr Lavelle" rather than "Edward" so we presume she's still alive and that she was never close to the teacher. At the end of her first term, Victoria tells her she's leaving with Mr Lavelle next term. She says that they've not had sex yet. He's done a nude sketch of Helen.
Journalist's PoV - At Victoria's suggestion they visit the school together. Victoria holidays in Africa each year - Morocco etc. I'm beginning to think that Louisa and Lavelle left together, that they soon separated (Lavelle died in an accident?) and that Louisa became a nun.
Louisa's PoV - Helen tells Louisa that she thinks Louisa or Victoria has framed her. Louisa decides to cover for Victoria because she loves her. There's going to be a governer's meeting. At this stage I think Helen loves Lavelle, that Victoria attracts lesbian crushes. There are overlong discussions between Louisa and Helen, Louisa and Lavelle, Louisa and Victoria. Louisa feels that she can't be loved and that Lavelle is loved too easily.
Journalist's PoV - Victoria admits to killing Louisa by the cliff. Earlier, I'd briefly considered the possibility of Louisa being a ghost. In the prologue Louisa says that after her death she followed the lives of Lavelle (a little) and Victoria, not caring about others.
It would be easy to adapt it to the small screen.
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