The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette's

Three starred reviews!

An all-girls school is struck with mysterious cases of screaming hysteria in this “gripping, perceptive” (Booklist, starred review) dark academia young adult thriller haunted by a deeply buried history clawing to the light.

For over a hundred years, girls have fought to attend St. Bernadette’s, with its reputation for shaping only the best and brightest young women.

Unfortunately, there is also the screaming.

When a student begins to scream in the middle of class, a chain reaction starts that impacts the entire school. By the end of the day, seventeen girls are affected—along with St. Bernadette’s stellar reputation.

Khadijah’s got her own scars to tend to, and watching her friends succumb to hysteria only rips apart wounds she’d rather keep closed. But when her sister falls to the screams, Khad knows she’s the only one who can save her.

Rachel has always been far too occupied trying to reconcile her overbearing mother’s expectations with her own secret ambitions to pay attention to school antics. But just as Rachel finds her voice, it turns into screams.

Together, the two girls find themselves digging deeper into the school’s dark history, hunting for the truth. Little do they know that a specter lurks in the darkness, watching, waiting, and hungry for its next victim…

About the author

Hanna Alkaf is the author of The Weight of Our Sky, Queen of the Tiles, The Girl and the Ghost, Hamra and the Jungle of Memories, and The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette’s, as well as coeditor of the young adult anthology The Grimoire of Grave Fates. She graduated with a degree in journalism from Northwestern University and has spent most of her life working with words, both in fiction and nonfiction. She lives in Kuala Lumpur with her family.

Product details

• Authors: Hanna Alkaf
• Publisher: Harper Collins
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: ages 14 to 99
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 23.10.2025
• EAN: 9781534494596
• ISBN: 978-1-5344-9459-6
• No. of pages: 368
• Dimensions: 140 mm x 210 mm x 23 mm
• Weight: 299 g
• Illustrations: 3C matte cvr (spfx: spot gloss, 2 PMS colors + K black)
• Subjects: Children's and young people's books > Non-fiction books / Non-fiction picture books > Mankind; YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Social Themes / Sexual Abuse, Thrillers (Children's / Teenage), Children’s / Teenage general interest: Girls and women, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Abuse, YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Thrillers & Suspense / Supernatural, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Thrillers / suspense, YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Places / Asia