PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
H. S. Cross was born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and studied at Harvard University. Wilberforce is her debut novel. She has taught at Friends Seminary and lives in New York. Cross is currently at work on a new novel set at St. Stephen's Academy.
Wilberforce will draw you into its world of adolescent bullying, violence, and longing from the first page of this subtle, remarkably authentic, and vivid reconstruction of time and place.--Sheila Kohler, author of Cracks and Becoming Jane Eyre Cross writes with a beautiful precision...[and] a master's ear for the perfect phrase. --The New York Journal of Books Cross's rich gifts as a writer are evident on every page. She has thoroughly researched and inhabited this world, down to its slang, rituals, and historical atmosphere. Saint Stephen's feels completely authentic, and every word choice is apt. --Image Journal Cross, an American, writes a school as nuanced and secretive as J. K. Rowling's Hogwarts....[She] brings a contemporary sensibility to her novel of Morgan Wilberforce's fraught development. --Heather Scott Partington, The Rumpus Ambitious and accomplished...This convincingly handled work is recommended for all fans of coming-of-age novels. --Patrick Sullivan, Library Journal [Wilberforce] has several significant and promising loose ends that support the...Rowling-esque ambitions for more volumes on St. Stephen's & Co., perhaps achieving 'the Hogwarts of adult literary fiction.'...A solid start for continued exploration of this strange yet, for many readers, familiar world. --Kirkus Reviews Cross writes with a beautiful precision. Her depiction of inner emotional turmoil inside Morgan Wilberforce's head could be among the best anywhere. The author crafts passages of agonizing psychological self-torment with a master's ear for the perfect phrase. --Karl Wolff, New York Journal of Books Can't Miss New Read: For fans of Evelyn Waugh or Kingsley Amis, a wry take on priggish, midcentury boarding schools. It's a dark take on the coming-of-age stories that've populated the book world as of late.--Huffington Post In this riveting and playful novel by H. S. Cross, mental warfare rules among friends and enemies at a boarding school, making for delicious complications and twisted loyalties--a mix of suspense and comedy reminiscent of Evelyn Waugh. Cross's great talent rests in the highly physical exploration of these young men, their sensibilities revealed through bruises and sprains, desire and suspicion. --Timothy Schaffert, author of The Swan Gondola
