The Year of the Gadfly by Jennifer Miller

The Year of the Gadfly by Jennifer Miller

"Do you know what it took for Socrates' enemies to make him stop pursuing the truth?"
"Hemlock."

Storied, fiercely competitive Mariana Academy was founded with a serious honor code; its reputation has been unsullied for decades. Now a long-dormant secret society, Prisom's Party, threatens its placid halls with vigilante justice, exposing students and teachers alike for even the most minor infraction.

Iris Dupont, a budding journalist whose only confidant is the chain-smoking specter of Edward R. Murrow, feels sure she can break into the ranks of The Devil's Advocate, the Party's underground newspaper, and there uncover the source of its blackmail schemes and vilifying rumors. Some involve the school's new science teacher, who also seems to be investigating the Party. Others point to an albino student who left school abruptly ten years before, never to return. And everything connects to a rare book called Marvelous Species. But the truth comes with its own dangers, and Iris is torn between her allegiances, her reporter's instinct, and her own troubled past.

The Year of the Gadfly is an exhilarating journey of double-crosses, deeply buried secrets, and the lifelong reverberations of losing someone you love. Following in the tradition of classic school novels such as A Separate Peace, Prep, and The Secret History, it reminds us how these years haunt our lives forever.

Jennifer Miller is a lecturer in the University of Queensland's School of Education, where she teaches undergraduate and postgraduate TESOL courses as well as pre-service teacher education. Her research and publications focus on language learning and identity, qualitative methods, and the job of teachers. Miller also teaches ESL to immigrant high school students in an intensive reception program. She is a firm believer in the benefits of merging life outside of the classroom with academic work. The book Audible Difference combines academic ideas with the perspective of a veteran classroom instructor.