The Academy - Elin Hilderbrand & Shelby Cunningham

The Academy

By Elin Hilderbrand & Shelby Cunningham

  • Release Date: 2025-09-16
  • Genre: Fiction & Literature
Score: 4
4
From 131 Ratings

Description

From #1 bestselling author of The Perfect Couple Elin Hilderbrand, and her daughter, Shelby Cunningham: the irresistible, deliciously scandalous story of one drama-filled year at a New England boarding school.

It’s move-in day at Tiffin Academy and amidst the happy chaos of friends reuniting, selfies uploading, and cars unloading, shocking news arrives: America Today just ranked Tiffin the number two boarding school in the country. It’s a seventeen-spot jump – was there a typo? The dorms need to be renovated, their sports teams always come in last place, and let’s just say Tiffin students are known for being more social than academic. On the other hand, the campus is exquisite, class sizes are small, and the dining hall is run by an acclaimed New York chef. And they do have fun—lots of parties and school dances, and a piano man plays in the student lounge every Monday night.

But just as the rarefied air of Tiffin is suffused with self-congratulation, the wheels begin to turn – and then they fall off the bus. One by one, scandalous blind items begin to appear on phones across Tiffin’s campus, thanks to a new app called ZipZap, and nobody is safe. From Davi Banerjee, international influencer and resident queen bee, to Simone Bergeron, the new and surprisingly young history teacher, to Charley Hicks, a transfer student who seems determined not to fit in, to Cordelia Spooner, Admissions Director with a somewhat idiosyncratic methodology – everyone has something to hide.

As if high school wasn’t dramatic enough...As the year unfolds, bonds are forged and broken, secrets are shared and exposed, and the lives of Tiffin’s students and staff are changed forever. The Academy is Elin Hilderbrand’s fresh, buzzy take on boarding school life, and a thrilling new direction from one of America’s most satisfying and popular storytellers.

Reviews

  • The Academy

    3
    By expectedmore1977
    The ending was abrupt and weak. Important questions were left unanswered. Disappointing.
  • Love the authors books

    4
    By VirgieD
    But…one detail was left out of the book, the email attachment from cinnamon. ….i wanted to know what it was…maybe there will be another book!
  • A Birds Eye view into the elite boarding school experience

    5
    By kaykaybean13
    I felt like I was walking down nostalgia lane when reading through this extremely authentic and dynamic POV regarding the underworld and undertakings inside the elite society of boarding school attendees. As someone who experienced the world of boarding school with all the complex and dramatic moments that make up high school experiences none can compare to the reality of what it is like to live and become educated at such institutions. The entire environment, the social structure and the rules that are completely different and far more diverse in their leniency their encouragement for independence and the freedom to utilize the time spent in the way that is expected of someone of higher caliber to conduct themselves and I can say that the housemates that you live with in your dorm and the peers in your form do elevate your values and morals and self respect to a higher degree and hold themselves and others accountable when failing to act with integrity in all decisions and behaviors. Each school has their own unique standards and cultural values and traditions in which the students look forward to having the opportunity to experience as they grow through the years and forms. Studying is done with immense sincerity and dedication to learning and successfully completing their education at the highest levels possible to continue on to the college of their respective choices and this creates such a positive environment that challenges them to push forward to being their best selves. I had nothing but the best experience education and lifelong bonds with all the girls in my dorm especially my roommate and those on my floor. The millennia or more that these traditions have stemmed from are what makes the experience so richly immersive and fascinating. The education is incomparable and the experience eases this breed of students into a college environment far more readily than those who’ve not experienced this independent kind of lifestyle where they are not only responsible to heed the required dorm rules but to live with several different personalities and learn to compromise and merge together in their journey and experience while living away and having the privilege of accessing the best possible education and preparation for college academia.

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