Mark Vogel is like the older brother Stefan Riley never had, until one day he disappears, and Stefan has to adapt to life without him. But, one year later, when he runs into a girl who looks near-identical to Mark, Stefan becomes obsessed. He discovers that other boys have disappeared, too, dozens over the years, most of them students of the Royal College of Saint Almsworth, many of them troubled or unruly before their disappearance.
What is happening to these boys? Who are the handful of women on campus who bear a striking resemblance to some of those who went missing? And what is the connection to the mysterious Dorley Hall?
Stefan works hard to get into the Royal College for one reason and one reason only: to find out exactly what happened to the women who live at Dorley Hall, and to get it to happen to him, too.
A closeted trans girl attempts to infiltrate a secret underground forced feminisation programme.
Content note: this story engages with some reasonably dark topics, including but not limited to torture, manipulation, dysphoria, nonconsensual surgery, and kidnapping. While it isn't intended to be a dark or dystopian story, the perspective characters are carrying a lot of baggage, and the exploration of the premise might be triggering for trans readers.
Book Info
Genre: Queer, Transgender, Mystery, LGBT, Fiction, Contemporary, Adult, Romance
Length: 511 pages
Published: May 2022
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61098513-welcome-to-dorley-hall
Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Welcome-Dorley-Hall-Alyson-Greaves-ebook/dp/B0D4FFLKKZ/ref=sr_1_1
This is a really difficult book to review without spoiling it, because I can't point to anything in the text to back myself up! I can say that this is a really unique idea - I've never seen anything like it before. However - apart from an extremely hurried first chapter that covers several years - I thought the rest of the novel went very slowly.
I did have to skim a couple of sections during the conversion process, so be aware that parts of it are pretty intense and uncomfortable.
It's definitely a thought provoking read! If you want something a bit outside the norm, this is a great one to try. Let me know what you think!
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