#ADGIFTED all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves

Book Info
Genre: Queer, Transgender, Mystery, LGBT, Fiction, Contemporary, Adult, Romance

Length: 511 pages

Published: May 2022

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61098513-welcome-to-dorley-hall

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Welcome-Dorley-Hall-Alyson-Greaves-ebook/dp/B0D4FFLKKZ/ref=sr_1_1

Mark Vogel is like the older brother Stefan Riley never had, until one day he disappears, and Stefan has to adapt to life without him. But, one year later, when he runs into a girl who looks near-identical to Mark, Stefan becomes obsessed. He discovers that other boys have disappeared, too, dozens over the years, most of them students of the Royal College of Saint Almsworth, many of them troubled or unruly before their disappearance.


What is happening to these boys? Who are the handful of women on campus who bear a striking resemblance to some of those who went missing? And what is the connection to the mysterious Dorley Hall?


Stefan works hard to get into the Royal College for one reason and one reason only: to find out exactly what happened to the women who live at Dorley Hall, and to get it to happen to him, too.


A closeted trans girl attempts to infiltrate a secret underground forced feminisation programme.


Content note: * this story engages with some reasonably dark topics, including but not limited to torture, manipulation, dysphoria, nonconsensual surgery, and kidnapping. While it isn’t intended to be a dark or dystopian story, the perspective characters are carrying a lot of baggage, and the exploration of the premise might be triggering for trans readers. *

About the Author – Alyson Anne
Alyson lives in a very small flat in a very large city, and writes fiction with trans themes and characters. Her Twitter is twitter.com/badambulist

My Review Full disclosure this is not a book I would traditionally read, but the cover initially drew me in, the blurb prickled my interests, so I decided to give it a go. It was a difficult, dark read. And I was thankful for the trigger warnings. A book to read for fun, I’m not too sure. But it was definitely eye opening in areas. Definitely a conservation starter with other readers of this book, to see how we are fared. I think if you accept the heavy topics, and realise that they are all going through life changing situations and if you connect to the main characters, you’ll enjoy the book. Which I recently found out is book one of a trilogy. I would read the others to see how the complete this dark and sometimes harrowing tale, one sure to stay with you for a while after. I would recommend it, but I would also say it should be a consideration due to the nature of the topics, as it won’t be a book for all people.