A narrow door

'I often find that men like you underestimate women like me.

I have committed two murders; one a crime of passion, the other, a crime of convenience.

I am barely forty years old, and finally I am starting to reap the harvest my ambitions have sown.

This is my time.'---At St Oswald's School, the ground is shifting beneath the old guards' feet.

Not only are the doors opening for the first time ever to female students, but there is also a new headmistress taking up the reins.

Miss Malone isn't just here to modernise the school, or whip the staff into shape, or make her mark.

She's here for vengeance... ---Praise for Joanne Harris's previous books set in the St Oswald's world - which all read as standalone thrillers:'A masterpiece of misdirection' Val McDermid'Delivers an almighty twist . . . brilliantly atmospheric ' The Times'Crime novel or literary novel?

Categories really don't matter; readers will find themselves comprehensively gripped' Independent'[A] gripping psychological thriller . . . Harris is one of our most accomplished novelists' Daily Express'Marvellously mischievous' Good Housekeeping'A classic whodunnit with the characters carefully crafted and the tension at a knife edge' Sunday Express'[A] delicious black comedy' Daily Mail