DNF @50% but if pushed to rate, probably two stars at this point.

Madam did not live up to my expectations at all sadly. Dark academia, a great cover and an intriguing blurb were all draws. What I founds was a bizarre choice to position this story in the 1990s when the feel of this read was at least a century ago. The story was set around a female boarding school in the highlands, shrouded in mystery and reputation.

Actually what you get is a new classics teacher Rose, a strange recruitment and she never fits in. She's an odd character and difficult to like with poor sleuthing skills. I wanted her to better at figuring this out. The pupils were bizarre and the male teachers just plain weird.

My problems with the story were the slow plod, constant circling around the same mystery with the feel of where it was going (but it never went anywhere for an age). I could not get on with it and because it was a slow read, I did not see any point in continuing.

From other reviews I can see that there are even darker themes ahead and I do feel obligated to give a TW of paedophilia.