Review: The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette's by Hanna Alkaf

Haunting & suspenseful, this novel will remain with you long after you've finished.

Apr 14, 2025

The screaming at St. Bernadette’s start suddenly one day during class; girls hauntingly screaming & having on control over it. They are brushed off as being “hysterical” or wanting attention. The teachers & staff try to keep this elite all-female school in Kuala Lumpur out of the local news, encouraging the other students to not talk about the screaming. For Khadijah this is impossible once her sister becomes a screamer. Facing her own trauma she is determined to find out what is causing the screaming and if it had anything to do with a student who went missing years before. For Rachel, a top student facing enormous pressure from her mother, it becomes difficult when she starts to blackout at school & act unlike herself. The girls have to figure out what is happening in their school before more of the screamers go missing.

The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette’s is unlike any book I’ve read. The mystery of what is going on with the screaming & what may have happened to the missing girl immediately pulls you in, but there is also a subtle supernatural aspect to the story. The school itself seems to hold many ghosts, with sweeping sounds & visions that the adults don’t believe exist. It’s a haunting & beautifully written story about how girls are treated, the traumas they face, & what happens when their voices are ignored.

The novel mainly alternates between Khadijah & Rachel’s points of view. Both girls are being silenced; Khadijah is voluntarily mute after being sexually assaulted & not being initially believed when she spoke out beforehand. Rachel has a horrendous mother who controls her every decision in order to make sure Rachel gets into a top college; Rachel is not allowed a voice in her own home & this carries over to school where she is dutiful but without friends. Once the screaming starts, those girls are encouraged to remain silent about their experiences & the school has a whole shuts down any discussion about what is going on.

The setting of Kuala Lumpur is interesting in that this story really could be any place in the world; the pressure the girls face at school & the way they are dismissed for being young females is unfortunately universal. There are some small details that remind you this book takes place in Malaysia but in general I found it impactful that I often forgot or did not focus on where the school was located.

I would recommend readers to take care if sexual assault is a triggering topic but otherwise found this novel to be truly beautifully written & an important examination of the impact of not listening or believing girls.

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