Scan barcode
A review by missprint_
I Am Margaret Moore by Hannah Capin
3.0
Every summer at the Marshall Naval School feels more real than anything else for the girls of Deck Five. Bonded through years of drills and sailing, the girls of Deck Five have always stood apart--none more so than Margaret and Rose and Flor and Nisreen. Bunkmates and sisters, always returning to each other, always carrying each other through the privation and striving every summer brings.
Until the summer when everything changes. When some girls don't come back to the school and when one boy is dead.
The boys say it's because of Margaret Moore and the night of the storm. But Margaret's friends know there has to be more to it.
Riding through the turmoult of the school, Margaret watches her friends disappear one by one until she's left with only the hazy memories of last summer and the stark realities of this one where lies threaten to pull Margaret under for good in I Am Margaret Moore (2022) by Hannah Capin.
I Am Margaret Moore is a standalone thriller with elements of the paranormal that readers are invited to interpret as fact or fiction as Margaret reveals more of her story. Short vignettes take the place of traditional chapters lending a frenzied, staccato feel to the novel which is even further underscored in Caitlin Davies' narration of the audiobook. Margaret and Rose are cued as white while Nisreen is from Jordan and Flor is from Venezuela. Nisreen and Flor are also in a romantic relationship which remains tangential to the plot and the focus on the otherwise platonic friendship between the four girls.
The extremely close focus of Margaret's narration makes this story intensely atmospheric as readers discover the secrets of both Marshall Naval School and Margaret's role in the events of the previous summer. A tightly managed plot and slow reveals lend themselves to suspense while I Am Margaret Moore unfolds until the final quarter of the novel where the tension and the pacing are cranked up to eleven.
Spoilers beyond this point:
Themes of agency and justice are familiar territory for Capin and play their role in this narrative as well although the final resolution will push the limits of willing suspension of disbelief for some readers--not just with Margaret's story but with the setting itself.
For most of the novel, Margaret's narration has a hazy quality which completely works for her character and the inexorable way the plot builds toward explanations and a final reckoning. Ultimately readers find that Margaret's story takes place around the 1940s or 1950s. In some ways, this setting is ideal as it justifies many of the difficulties Margaret faces while trying to get an abortion (originally slated for a 2021 publication, this book was written before the overturning of Roe V. Wade in June 2022). Unfortunately at the same time adding the historical setting also pushes credulity.
Having a large, prestigious naval school for girls at that time is so unlikely when women were being pushed out of the public sphere and encouraged to return to the home to make space for returning soldiers seeking work. Not to mention all of this coming well before the passing of Title IX in 1972 which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and raised awareness around such inequities. For further context the first women to attend the US Naval Academy--a school for older students than those at Marshall--weren't admitted until 1976.
The likelihood of such an institution aside, having one that is described as widely devoid of racism or homophobia (at least as interpreted through Margaret's narrow lens) seems impossible. We hear brief comments on the obstacles Nisreen and Flor face both as young women of color and for their relationship. But somehow those are all tied to their lives at home, none of the issues touching the hallowed grounds of Marshall.
Possible Pairings: The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson, The Wicked Deep by Shea Earnshaw, A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee, Horrid by Katrina Leno, The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma, What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo, The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas
Until the summer when everything changes. When some girls don't come back to the school and when one boy is dead.
The boys say it's because of Margaret Moore and the night of the storm. But Margaret's friends know there has to be more to it.
Riding through the turmoult of the school, Margaret watches her friends disappear one by one until she's left with only the hazy memories of last summer and the stark realities of this one where lies threaten to pull Margaret under for good in I Am Margaret Moore (2022) by Hannah Capin.
I Am Margaret Moore is a standalone thriller with elements of the paranormal that readers are invited to interpret as fact or fiction as Margaret reveals more of her story. Short vignettes take the place of traditional chapters lending a frenzied, staccato feel to the novel which is even further underscored in Caitlin Davies' narration of the audiobook. Margaret and Rose are cued as white while Nisreen is from Jordan and Flor is from Venezuela. Nisreen and Flor are also in a romantic relationship which remains tangential to the plot and the focus on the otherwise platonic friendship between the four girls.
The extremely close focus of Margaret's narration makes this story intensely atmospheric as readers discover the secrets of both Marshall Naval School and Margaret's role in the events of the previous summer. A tightly managed plot and slow reveals lend themselves to suspense while I Am Margaret Moore unfolds until the final quarter of the novel where the tension and the pacing are cranked up to eleven.
Spoilers beyond this point:
Spoiler
Themes of agency and justice are familiar territory for Capin and play their role in this narrative as well although the final resolution will push the limits of willing suspension of disbelief for some readers--not just with Margaret's story but with the setting itself.
For most of the novel, Margaret's narration has a hazy quality which completely works for her character and the inexorable way the plot builds toward explanations and a final reckoning. Ultimately readers find that Margaret's story takes place around the 1940s or 1950s. In some ways, this setting is ideal as it justifies many of the difficulties Margaret faces while trying to get an abortion (originally slated for a 2021 publication, this book was written before the overturning of Roe V. Wade in June 2022). Unfortunately at the same time adding the historical setting also pushes credulity.
Having a large, prestigious naval school for girls at that time is so unlikely when women were being pushed out of the public sphere and encouraged to return to the home to make space for returning soldiers seeking work. Not to mention all of this coming well before the passing of Title IX in 1972 which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and raised awareness around such inequities. For further context the first women to attend the US Naval Academy--a school for older students than those at Marshall--weren't admitted until 1976.
The likelihood of such an institution aside, having one that is described as widely devoid of racism or homophobia (at least as interpreted through Margaret's narrow lens) seems impossible. We hear brief comments on the obstacles Nisreen and Flor face both as young women of color and for their relationship. But somehow those are all tied to their lives at home, none of the issues touching the hallowed grounds of Marshall.
Possible Pairings: The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson, The Wicked Deep by Shea Earnshaw, A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee, Horrid by Katrina Leno, The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma, What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo, The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas