The Gifted School: A Novel

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER

"Wise and addictive... The Gifted School is the juiciest novel I've read in ages... a suspenseful, laugh-out-loud page-turner and an incisive inspection of privilege, race and class." -J. Courtney Sullivan, author of Friends and Strangers, in The New York Times

Smart and juicy, a compulsively readable novel about a previously happy group of friends and parents that is nearly destroyed by their own competitiveness when an exclusive school for gifted children opens in the community, from the author of The Displacements

This deliciously sharp novel captures the relentless ambitions and fears that animate parents and their children in modern America, exploring the conflicts between achievement and potential, talent and privilege.

Set in the fictional town of Crystal, Colorado, The Gifted School is a keenly entertaining novel that observes the drama within a community of friends and parents as good intentions and high ambitions collide in a pile-up with long-held secrets and lies. Seen through the lens of four families who've been a part of one another's lives since their kids were born over a decade ago, the story reveals not only the lengths that some adults are willing to go to get ahead, but the effect on the group's children, sibling relationships, marriages, and careers, as simmering resentments come to a boil and long-buried, explosive secrets surface and detonate. It's a humorous, keenly observed, timely take on ambitious parents, willful kids, and the pursuit of prestige, no matter the cost.

BUY THE BOOK

Published Jul 2, 2019

560 pages

Average rating: 6.76

78 RATINGS

|

Community Reviews

SuzyQ
Jan 17, 2025
A book about four best friends and their families in a very wealthy community. A new school for gifted children is about to open and these families do everything they can to show how smart and talented their children are including lying, cheating, stealing, bribing, etc. so the privileged children can go through the levels of qualifying for the minimal numbers of slots.
Cydneejo
Dec 29, 2020
6/10 stars
Weak ending.
bookishkellier
Jun 25, 2024
10/10 stars
My fav read of 2024 thus far
Kristing424
Feb 06, 2024
8/10 stars
Christy Recinella

See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.