THE YEAR OF THE GADFLY
Iris Dupont is a teenage reporter who communes with the ghost of Edward R. Murrow. Jonah Kaplan is a failed microbiologist-turned biology teacher who is haunted by the ghosts of his past. Each embarks on a private investigation to uncover a secret society in their remote New England town. As Iris and Jonah's paths start to intersect, they are drawn into the darker corners of their town, their school, and their own minds. THE YEAR OF THE GADFLY is an intricately woven narrative that will keep you reading late into the night.
"Engrossing." —O The Oprah Magazine
"Part Dead Poet's Society, part Heathers. Entirely Addictive." —Glamour
"Prep with attitude." —Vogue, Australia
"A darkly comic romp...vivid and very enjoyable...you've never been anywhere like the elite prep school known as Mariana Academy (unless you've really touched a toe onto the Island of "Lord of the Flies").
—The Washington Post
"Engages and Provokes." —The Boston Globe
"Structurally complex and intricately plotted, The Year of the Gadfly is harrowing, enchanting, and utterly original."
—Amber Dermont, The Daily Beast
"There is a relentless authenticity in her prose...[in The Year of the Gadfly] Miller effectively places here characters in a vice and squeezes the truth out of them." —The Atlantic.com
"A-" —The Onion AV Club
"Smart and charming." —Elizabeth Egan, Self Magazine
"A smoldering mystery...A gripping thrill ride that's also a thoughtful coming-of-age story." —Kirkus
"While Miller infuses humor and witty repartee into her writing, the novel's protagonists...are dogged by their own spectres of loss beyond the petty teen squabbles of the freaks and the geeks." —Minneapolis Star Tribune
The Year of the Gadfly "feels like early autumn before hurricane season. Take The Ice Storm. Rick Moody would approve." —The Daily Beast
"A riveting psychological thriller set in a prep school. Miller's depictions of adolescence are sometimes brutal, often hilarious, but always honest in this beautifully written mystery that will appeal to both adult and teen fans of literary fiction." --Largehearted Boy
"In her first novel, Miller uses alternate viewpoints and time periods as she suspensefully fills in the gaps regarding various mysteries that have dogged the school over the years. Fascinating entomological details parallel the characters’ lives. This is a coming-of-age page-turner." --Library Journal
"I love this book! I'm mad for it! It's totally THE SECRET HISTORY for the next generation!" --Stef Kiper, Water Street Books
"The Year of the Gadfly is engrossing, original, intelligent, and sometimes very, very funny. I read the book on successive nights, greedily following the adventures of Iris Dupont, our spirited and inquisitive guide and narrator... The story is rich and imaginative, but there is also a serious undercurrent of loss that takes the novel to a depth that is unexpected and satisfying." --Mark LaFramboise, Politics & Prose Bookstore
"The Year of the Gadfly has the right blend of edginess and day-to-day life to make it an exceedingly quick read. Fans of the prep school sub-genre, conspiracy theories, Donna Tartt's The Secret History, or Rachel DeWoskin's Big Girl Small will find much to appreciate here....What I liked most about the book, though, is the way it exposes the capacity for brutality that exists within us all. Well, that and a character who is always asking herself, "What would Ed Murrow do?" --Emily Crowe, Odyssey Books
Gary Shteyngart writes, "Hysterical and moving, Jennifer Miller's debut fiction fuses Special Topics in Calamity Physics and Portnoy's Complaint for girls. This book is an imaginative delight."
"Hilarious and heartbreaking, THE YEAR OF THE GADFLY is a story about friendship, acceptance, and trust—the way our search for it shapes our youth and how that search can haunt us forever. A dark, whirling, and compelling read." —Jennifer Close, author of Girls in White Dresses
"It's hard to resist any novel whose young journalist heroine hallucinates that she's in conversation with Edward R. Murrow. But Jennifer Miller has also written a book with the feel of real life—part science experiment, part mystery, part a coming of age narrative sorting out the truth about one's friends and enemies." —David Ignatius, columnist for The Washington Post and author of Blood Money
"In a brilliant portrayal of the dark underbelly of adolescence, Miller explores a time when both our identity and our future are at stake, and shows how rare it is to leave that landscape unscathed."
—Ann Napolitano, author of A Good Hard Look.
"Jennifer Miller is a writer of exceptional promise, with instincts that are equally astute for insight into character, innovative structure, memorable phrasing, and startling plot turns that compel the reader to read on. In THE YEAR OF THE GADFLY, her literary gifts are on virtuoso display."
—Carol Goodman, author of The Lake of Dead Languages and Arcadia Falls.