Beauty of Us

September 1984, Thornton College private school.

After 15-year-old Zahabiya s father remarries, she can t wait to leave home and convinces him to send her away to boarding school. But will she fit in? She joins a clique of smart students but isn t sure if she measures up or how to read the mixed messages from a guy she s crushing on.

Seventeen-year-old Leesa has been at Thornton since middle school after her parents messy divorce. She s been climbing the school s social ladder with equal measures of meanness and manipulation. She s also guarding a big secret that she has to work overtime to keep from her friends.

Fresh out of university, this is Nahla s first real teaching job, and she s drowning. She has her distractions though: the flirty art teacher and a cryptic notebook left behind by her deceased predecessor, Mademoiselle Leblanc.

Zahabiya and her friends all racialized girls and victims of Leesa s bullying uncover Leesa s secret. But can they help Leesa? Nahla, too, is embroiled in her own mystery, assisted by Mademoiselle Leblanc s ghost. Each is indelibly changed by what they learn.

Masterfully crafted, The Beauty of Us is a gripping novel about surviving hardship, the power of friendship, and growing up.