It always feel like a risk to put a book on the line up that has such mixed reviews and a reasonably low Goodreads average, but ‘An Academy for Liars’ by Alexis Henderson was just calling out to be read and analysed for this season of the podcast. It sounds dark, twisty, and delicious, with a whole heap of hints at dark academia - it had to happen.

Lennon Carter’s life is falling apart.

Until she gets a mysterious phone call inviting her to sit the entrance exam for somewhere very few have heard of - Drayton College, a school of magic hidden in a secret pocket of Savannah.

Lennon has been chosen because - like everyone else at the school - she is special. She possesses the innate gift of persuasion: the ability to wield her will like a weapon and to use it to control others and, in rare cases, matter itself.
After passing the gruelling exam, Lennon must now learn how to master this devastating power.
While persuasion takes a heavy toll on her body and her mind, she is captivated by all that surrounds her - her studies, Drayton’s lush, moss-draped campus, her brilliant classmates and, most of all, by Dante, the charismatic adviser who both intimidates and enamours her.

But as Lennon becomes more adept at wielding her uncanny abilities, she uncovers more about the unsettling history of Drayton and Dante’s tragic and violent past, and is increasingly disturbed by what she finds.

For it seems that the ultimate test is to embrace absolute power without succumbing to corruption and darkness . . . and it's a test she's terrified she is going to fail.

Everything about Lennon’s adventures at Drayton College sound like some dark academia boxes could be ticked… Let’s find out!

In this episode we discuss:

• The “Dante” character archetype.

• Elitism, performance and the pressure of exclusive institution.

• The capacity and limitations of human free will and autonomy.

• Is it Dark Academia?
  

You can listen to it here:

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TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• ‘An Academy for Liars’ by Alexis Henderson

• ‘Ninth House' by Leigh Bardugo

• ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt

• ‘The Whispering Dark’ by Kelly Andrew

• ‘Darkly’ by Marisha Pessl

• ‘A Study in Drowning’ by Ava Reid

• ‘The Men Who Stare at Goats' by Jon Ronson
  

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