Review of Spoiled Milk by Avery Curran

A sapphic, gothic, boarding school story of girls being poisoned by supernatural forces inside Briarley School for Girls. Violet, the girl everyone wants to be and befriended by, is poisoned on her eighteen birthday by the perfume gifted to her by Mademoiselle Lefèvre, their French teacher, who the girls believe was intimate with Violet. Emily believes she murdered Violet and wants justice but her friends Alice, Dot, Marion and Evelyn need convincing. Soon the food starts to turn and the milk is spoiled. Emily and her friends seek out help from a medium who shows them how to perform a seance to get through to Violet. When the girls perform the seance in their dormitory they use Evelyn as their medium and soon enough Violet’s voice comes out of her mouth to warn the girls that her death was just the beginning.

A gothic coming of age story on suppressed female desire in the early nineteen twenties and the controlling nature of old English boarding schools. For fans of The Furies by Katie Lowe.

Published on 12.03.2026 by riverrun

Reviewed by Vic

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