Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

High-powered lawyer and single mom Kate is in a meeting when she receives an urgent call from her daughter’s school: Fifteen-year-old Amelia has been suspended for cheating. That sounds insane to Kate. Amelia is an honour roll student, destined for an Ivy League college. When Kate arrives at Amelia’s school, Grace Hall, she is shocked to find Amelia has jumped to her death from the roof — and it seems no one saw anything.

As Kate struggles to understand what might have driven her daughter to suicide, she receives a mysterious text message: “She didn’t jump.” Kate makes it her mission to figure out what happened to her only child in her last days. After wading through pages of text messages, emails and Facebook posts, Kate discovers Amelia had been tapped to join a popular and forbidden school club, the Magpies, infamous for their cruel hazing and Lord of the Flies culture. Slowly, she uncovers the dangerous secrets Grace Hall and its students are hiding.

A mother of two girls herself, author Kimberly McCreight will have you reconsidering your own relationships with your children — or, at the very least, considering the way teens use social media in a school setting.

Reconstructing Amelia, Kimberly McCreight, $28. Available at Indigo.ca andAmazon.ca.