We’ve reached the finale of season 6! Already!

There seems to be a curse within ‘The Dark Academicals’ for the finale books, but we’re confident that we’ve broken the cycle with Ava Reid’s ‘A Study in Drowning’.

Effy has always believed in fairy tales. She's had no choice. Since childhood, she's been haunted by visions of the Fairy King. She's found solace only in the pages of Angharad - a beloved epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, and then destroys him.

Effy's tattered copy is all that's keeping her afloat through her stifling first term at her prestigious architecture college. So when the late author's family announces a contest to design his house, Effy feels certain this is her destiny.

But Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task: a musty, decrepit estate on the brink of crumbling into a hungry sea. And when Effy arrives, she finds she isn't the only one who's made a temporary home there. Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar, is studying Myrddin's papers and is determined to prove her favourite author is a fraud.

As the two rival students investigate the reclusive author's legacy, piecing together clues through his letters, books, and diaries, they discover that the house's foundation isn't the only thing that can't be trusted. There are dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspiring against them - and the truth may bring them both to ruin.

Can it possibly live up to our sky-high dark academia expectations and turn around our tradition of ending the season on a disappointing book? Let’s find out!

In this episode we discuss:

• Misogyny in academia

• The cult of publishing

• Mythology and folklore

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• ‘A Study in Drowning’ by Ava Reid

• ‘House of Hunger’ by Alexis Henderson

• ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ by Shirley Jackson

• ‘The Morganville Vampires’ by Rachel Caine

• Mrs Havisham and Satis House from ‘Great Expectations’ by Charles Dickens

• ‘Chicago’ (musical)

If you fancy taking a chance on ‘A Study in Drowning’, we’d love it if you considered using our bookshop.org link below to purchase your copy of the book which helps us fund ‘The Dark Academicals’ and gives back to independent bookshops at no extra cost to you.

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