This book takes us to the Whitethorn Institute, the sister school of the otherwise well known Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children that we've so far followed in the series (if you read them in order). Cora takes the role as main character in this one where she's struggling to let go of what happened to her at the Moors. She decides to transfer to the Whitethorn Institute believing that if they can separate her from her own door, they can also separate her from the Moors. In her own words, she'll save herself and wait for no one else to do it.

While most of the books in this series can be read independently of the others, I will say that this book can't be read alone. You should at least have read Beneath the Sugar Sky and Come Tumbling Down before you pick up this one - otherwise a lot of what motivates the characters don't make much sense.

This book focuses on group harassment and bullying both in child to child situations but also how adult strictness can be a source of trauma and become a reason for bullying. It touches upon how institutions can be complicit in childhood trauma, and how easy it is for adults to harm children without ever having the intention to do so.

Like so many other books in this series, there's plenty of representation. This book focuses mostly on fatness and fatphobia. Trigger warning for suicide and suicide attempts!