Feature film rights for M A Bennett’s debut YA novel S.T.A.G.S have been bought by Chernin Entertainment, ahead of its UK publication. The novel focuses on the exclusive St. Aidan the Great’s School (S.T.A.G.S.) in England and follows first year boarding student Greer as she navigates the traditions of the school hierarchy, until she is invited for a weekend getaway by the school’s elite and most popular group, known as the Medievals. The invite promises a weekend of bloodsports, but what Greer and the other invitees don’t know is that the Medievals just might be hunting, shooting, and fishing them over the next three days.
It comes as little surprise to me that there’s plans to turn this into a movie. It definitely has that feel to it, and there’s more than one or two scenes that I think have been inspired by classic films.
From the moment we meet Greer, we know she’s caught up in something shocking. She tells us she might be a murderer, and I couldn’t wait to see just how this came together.
Greer’s scholarship at S.T.A.G.S. – a school of traditions, where money is revered and there’s a sense that those who have money/status will always come out on top – makes her feel like an outsider from the start. The book itself reminded me of a number of films/novels, where we are asked to look at how privilege affects character.
Our story starts properly when Greer and the others are invited to the home of Henry de Warlencourt (leader of the Medievals) for a shooting, hunting, fishing weekend. I was fascinated by the aura of wealth and privilege, but also slightly repulsed by the air of menace that exudes from this group.
As the story picks up, the rose-tinted glasses fall from Greer’s eyes. What she’s involved in isn’t simply an attempt to make a group of people feel socially inferior, it’s deadly serious. Over years ‘accidents’ have happened and it quickly becomes a case of survival, and trying to work out just how far-up the chain this goes!
The focus on wealth and race felt uncomfortable. Yet I know this probably isn’t too far from the norm for some. Whether it goes quite this far is hard to credit, but it certainly makes for a thrilling story.
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this in advance of publication (and I await news of the movie).