Scrolling through Tik Tok, I saw a video where best-selling author Elin Hilderbrand was interviewed about the new novel she co-wrote with her daughter, Shelby Cunningham, The Academy. The book is inspired by stories Cunningham told her mother on long phone calls while she was a student at St. George’s, a boarding school in Newport Rhode Island where I also went to school.
I’ve blogged quite a bit on Reel Girl about St. George’s, how my “privileged” education there was the introduction into so much sexism and racism, how all the freshman girls “newbies” had to dress up as Playboy bunnies, how I got expelled sophomore year, that Tucker Carlson was my in my class and that Billy Bush is also an alumn, and of course Reel Girl followed the sex abuse legal case. I’ll put the links at the end of this post and above is a photo I just dug up. I apologize for the quality, I’m trying to get this up before I start cooking for the holiday and even though it’s not a great image, it’s so 80s! The Levi’s jean jacket, that bandana!
I love that HIlderbrand wrote a book with her daughter, I’ve never read anything by her before and so far, it’s a page turner, I’ll post a review when I’m finished. I’m wondering if anyone has read it or read books by her, and I’m also wondering what your favorite novels inspired by prep schools are? In her acknowledgements, Hilderbrand references Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld and A Separate Peace by John Knowles.
My kids and I watched “The Perfect Couple” last summer, a Netflix series based on another Hilderbrand book, so that’s all I know of her work do far and a TV adaptation isn’t really a fair assessment. I think most of all, it was fun for me talking about the plot with my kids and guessing who the killer was. We also watched “Sirens” and “We Were Liars,” all three shows were about rich people living on islands. “We Were Liars” was by far, my favorite, though—and I know this is a total cliche—the book was SO much better. “We Were Liars” has a twist ending so it’s almost impossible for me to imagine how it would’ve been to watch the show if I didn’t know the plot.
Have you read The Academy or anything by HIlderbrand? Have you watched any of these three series and do you have any other rich-people-on-an-island shows to add to the list from this popular genre? And finally, what’s your favorite boarding school novel? Let me know anything you’d like me to review, especially anything with female protagonists.