Joshua Gaylord Books

NOMINATED FOR THE 2015 SHIRLEY JACKSON AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL A small, quiet Midwestern town, which is unremarkable save for one fact: when the teenagers reach a certain age, they run wild. When Lumen Fowler looks back on her childhood, she wouldn't have guessed she would become a kind suburban wife, a devoted mother. In fact, she never thought she would escape her small and peculiar hometown. When We Were Animals is Lumen's confessional: as a well-behaved and over-achieving teenager, she fell beneath the sway of her community's darkest, strangest secret. For one year, beginning at puberty, every resident "breaches" during the full moon. On these nights, adolescents run wild, destroying everything in their path. Lumen resists. Promising her father she will never breach, she investigates the mystery of her community's traditions and the stories erased from the town record. But the more we learn about the town's past, the more we realize that Lumen's memories are harboring secrets of their own. A gothic coming-of-age tale for modern times, When We Were Animals is a dark, provocative journey into the American heartland.

Set in the elite Carmine-Casey School for Girls in Manhattan, the novel explores the complex and often dark relationships among students and teachers. Rivalries and hidden secrets create a tense atmosphere where personal and professional lives intertwine, leading to unexpected confrontations. As the characters navigate their ambitions and desires, the story reveals the intricate dynamics of privilege and power within a prestigious educational setting.