About the Book
Title: When We Were Silent
Author: Fiona McPhillips
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 320
Edition Read: Kindle eBook
Dates Read: September 17 – 24, 2025
Blurb: Louise Manson is the newest student at Highfield Manor, Dublin’s most exclusive private school. Behind its granite walls are high-arched alcoves, an oak-lined library…and the dark secret Lou has come to expose.
Lou’s working-class status makes her the consummate outsider, until she is befriended by some of her beautiful and wealthy classmates. But after Lou attempts to bring the school’s secret to light, her time at Highfield ends with a lifeless body sprawled at her feet.
Thirty years later, Lou gets a shocking phone call. A high-profile lawyer is bringing a lawsuit against the school—and he needs Lou to testify. Lou will have to confront her past and discover, once and for all, what really happened at Highfield. Powerful and compelling, When We Were Silent is a thrilling story of exploitation, privilege, and retribution.
Review
This was an unexpected treat from last year. I had never heard of this book or this author, but it was listed on one of GoodReads side reading challenges, I think for Dark Academia. I’ll be completely honest – I chose it because it was one of the books listed that was on Kindle Unlimited. Turns out, this is McPhillips’ debut novel, and with a review like this, I can’t wait to see what else she writes.
One thing I really liked about this book was the framing. We move back and forth from Lou as a student at Highfield to Lou as an adult having to revisit the events of that period of her life. The other part that was really interesting is that the “event” that changed everything isn’t explicitly told to you until you see teenage Lou experience it and, even then, you still don’t know everything. To be fair, there’s a lot that Lou doesn’t know either, since several people who she cared about and relied on ended up ditching her or betraying her once she tried to bring everything to light. While there was a bit of abiguity, the story still had a really good flow to it. The best part is that even when you are pretty sure you know exactly where the story is going, there is still a twist at the end that changes everything.
At it’s core, this is a story about how people in power, in this case a high profile swimming coach at an elite school, abuse that power and get away with heinous acts while being propped up and shielded by the aparatus that supports them, in this case the school leadership and society in general. The fact that Lou doesn’t come from a rich family and has nothing and no one to back her up doesn’t stop her from trying to confront this head on. She is fierce and a fighter which made her very enjoyable to read, even with the extremely dark subject matter.
GoodReads rating: 5 stars
Categories: Books I've Read
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