Mushens Entertainment Highlights: The Mesmerising World of Dark Academia
At Mushens Entertainment, we’re all very much drawn to the Dark Academia genre. So in celebration of Chris MacDonald’s The Actor being published today, we’d like to highlight this alluring thriller set in a drama school and some of our other authors who have written entrancing novels set in deeply dangerous educational establishments.
“Grabs you from the opening line and won’t let you go” Alex Michaelides, author of The Silent Patient
The Actor by Chris MacDonald follows Adam Sealey, a controversial method actor who finally seems set to win the Oscar that has always eluded him, following a successful reunion with his former mentor, Jonathan. But the two men share an awful secret, which dates back to Adam’s time in drama school. When it becomes clear someone is planning to expose them, Adam is forced to confront what they did, and why he’s always been driven to take things too far.
“An atmospheric, disturbing, even scary tale that touches on otherworldliness” The Times
Moving onto fiction set in schools, The Furies by Katie Lowe focuses on Violet, a girl in 1997 who joins a private school located on the site of 17th-century witch trials. She is drawn into a group of girls who have a fascination with witchcraft. But once the study sessions on the witchcraft and magic become more than just theory, Violet must decide what she’s prepared to do in order to stay popular. And maybe she’ll solve the mystery of what happened to a former member of their group. The one who went missing.
"A nail-biting page turner written with cinematic sparkle" Jennifer Niven, author of All The Bright Places
And within Young Adult fiction, The Magpie Society series by Amy McCulloch and Zoella Sugg is set in Illumen Hall, a boarding school of tradition and achievement. But tragedy strikes in the first book One For Sorrow when the body of a student is discovered on the beach and on her back is an elaborate tattoo of a magpie. For new student Audrey, it is just another strange and unsettling thing about her new surroundings. For her roommate Ivy, the death of her friend Lola is just one thing she desperately wants to get past. But the two girls are forced into an unlikely alliance when a mysterious podcast airs, with one sinister headline: I know who killed Lola. And one of you is next.
“A twisting, turning dive into a web of long-buried secrets” Jane Harper, author of Exiles
Finally, looking to the book that will fulfil your future Dark Academia needs, When We Were Silent by Fiona McPhillips publishes in May 2024. This irresistible debut follows 17-year-old Louise Manson, a new student at Highfield Manor, Dublin’s most exclusive private school. When Lou discovers a dark secret with the school’s swimming team at its centre, she sets out to expose the truth, only to be drawn into a murder investigation. Then, 30 years later, Lou is asked to testify in a lawsuit against Highfield, forcing her to choose between protecting the life she has so carefully reconstructed and taking down an institution that has repeatedly chosen to protect its reputation over the children in its care.
Our Agents are always looking for submissions in the Dark Academia genre, so if you have a book in this area, take a look at our Submissions page and send it our way!
