UNDERWATER

This dark thriller explores abuses of power in many forms, across a dual timeline. It is reading group fiction at its finest because it combines a compelling plot with upmarket writing and morally complicated themes that readers will want to discuss. For readers of "Girl A", "Anatomy of a Scandal" and "My Dark Vanessa".

Set primarily in Ireland in the 1980s, UNDERWATER follows 17-year-old Louise Manson. She is a new student at Highfield Manor, Dublin's most exclusive private school. Lou's council-estate upbringing has her marked as an outsider, but she quickly finds herself befriended by the beautiful and wealthy Shauna Power - Highfield's star athlete and Olympic hopeful.

When Lou discovers a dark secret with Shauna at its centre, she sets out to expose the truth. But in trying to protect Shauna, Lou becomes implicated in a murder investigation.

Thirty years later, it's 2018, and Lou has rebuilt her life after the harrowing events of the so-called 'Highfield affair': she is approached by Shauna's brother Ronan, now a high-profile lawyer, dragging the past she has tried so hard to bury back into the spotlight, with Lou's questionable actions under intense scrutiny once again. Ronan is bringing a lawsuit against Highfield, and when he asks Lou to testify, she must choose between protecting her carefully reconstructed life and taking down an institution that has repeatedly chosen to protect its reputation over the children in its care.

Fiona McPhillips is a journalist and author of two nonfiction books. Her prose has been published in The Manchester Review, Barren, Hobart and elsewhere, whilst her poetry has appeared in Atrium, Headstuff and The Galway Review. Fiona lives in Dublin with her husband, three kids, two cats and a dog. She is working on her second reading-group thriller, which follows the discovery of a missing boy's remains, with 1990s' rave culture as its backdrop.