Siddons School is an elementary through high school private girls’ school in New York which caters to the wealthy. Fewer than 300 students are enrolled, and most have known each other since they were in first grade. Following the academic year of the class of 1997, All Souls delineates the hopes, fears, loves, and jealousies of the tight-knit group of girls during their final year in this intense atmosphere. Heightening the stress of applying to top colleges is the serious illness of one of the top girls in the class, Astra Dell, whose mother has recently been killed in an accident. Crushes, both by girls and some of the younger staff, are acted upon; loyalties are tested and changed; and by the end of this brief, episodic novel, one has come to know the graduates, their parents, and many of the staff through the author’s effective minimalist technique. In the end, however, I found the book a bit hollow. 223 pp.
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