Of Unrequited Longing and Dark Obsession: The Temple House Vanishing

A dark academia story set in a boarding school

So recently, I have been in the mood for audiobooks, and I decided to pick up this gem. I had an audiobook of it, thanks to Libro.Fm, and I was in for a ride. Full disclosure, I rated it a solid 5 stars, and I will convince you to give it a read as well!

And as I sit writing this post on the first day of September, these words from the book resonate quite well, bringing on the doom of nostalgia.

It’s always that first September day that returns.

Before we begin, I, of course, have to share a synopsis from Goodreads:

Twenty-five years ago, a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl and her charismatic teacher disappeared without trace…

In an elite Catholic girls’ boarding school the pupils live under the repressive, watchful gaze of the nuns. Seeking to break from the cloistered atmosphere two of the students — Louisa and Victoria — quickly become infatuated with their young, bohemian art teacher, and act out passionately as a result. That is until he and Louisa suddenly disappear. Years later, a journalist uncovers the troubled past of the school and determines to resolve the mystery of the missing pair. The search for the truth will uncover a tragic, mercurial tale of suppressed desire and long-buried secrets. It will shatter lives and lay a lost soul to rest. The Temple House Vanishing is a stunning, intensely atmospheric novel of unrequited longing, dark obsession, and uneasy consequences.

A Dark Academia, a Mystery, and a Literary Fiction (?)

Since a major part of it is set in an all-girls Convent boarding school (pretty much my own education, to be honest), it definitely forms a good foundation for a Dark Academia novel. It also has a love story at its core, filled with the usual Dark Academia ingredients of obsession, ambition, love, jealousy, and so on.

Am I happy? I can’t remember now.

At its core, it is also a mystery of disappearance, of two people who form an integral part of the story. What’s exciting is that the reader actually gets to hear Louisa’s story right from the very beginning, as she herself narrates the story. It really hooked me in because I wondered where she would be when the story ended.

But I also like to think of this as a literary fiction novel. It has beautiful prose, much like the beautiful (but flawed) characters in the book. I loved the narration so much I got myself a Kindle copy as well, and so I ended up highlighting many lines.

Of Unrequited Longing and Dark Obsession

You might ask, what is it about Dark Academia that makes it so dark and twisted? Is it the cloistered houses that provide solace to these ambitious intellectuals? Is it the competition? Is it the suppressed emotion?

In my dream, Temple House, in all its Victorian, turreted austerity, emerges from a mist but must surely be a trick of memory.

But more so, what is it about this genre that piques our interest like none other? Do we find in the actions of these characters a catharsis for our own suppressed ambitions and desires? Our longings and obsessions? Why do we find ourselves (mostly) understanding these flawed characters? Is it because we give them a space for healing and growth — one that we do not grant our own selves?

In works of this genre, life, death — mortality is such an important undercurrent, whether subtle or overt. But was it so in The Temple House Vanishing as well? Yes, obviously so. But what made it more special was the way it was executed. Of course, you do not expect the ending to hit you as it did. But the culmination of this story leaves you oddly satisfied. I know I was. It was sad and tragic (as is customary for most Dark Academia works), but it was oddly justified, bringing the story full circle.

It began with death, my time in Temple House.

Obsession and hidden longings run rampant in this story. I was mesmerized throughout by the deft execution and in the expert telling of this story that the author did.

Mr Lavelle, my favourite teacher at Temple House, once said there is something inherently dark and powerful at play in adolescence.

Mesmerizing, Mysterious Characters

It was here I met Victoria. And Mr Lavelle. After that, everything changed.

As is the case in DA novels set in educational sites, we have the teacher, the oh-so-enigmatic professor, who is often portrayed as this all-knowing and wise and mysterious man the students flock to.

Case in point, The Maidens, by Alex Michaelides.

He spoke the way I wanted to someday. Lyrical and knowing, rich and inspiring.

But as one reads on, we realize that it is all a sham. It is a smokescreen for the real obsessions and weaknesses that people try to hide from the world. Emotions they themselves hide away from facing and feeling. It is the same with Mr Lavelle.

But at the core, although she tells most of the story, Louisa is just as mysterious. Where does she ultimately go? Why is she hiding? What is she hiding? These were the questions that plagued me.

I would not have become what I did. But then I remember the way I felt as they both, he and Victoria, looked at me, and I think perhaps not. It was all inevitable.

Lyrical Writing

Simply put, I have fallen in love with Rachel Donohue’s writing. Suffice it to say, and I am also getting my hands on her other work soon!

It is simply atmospheric and nuanced, and I was enthralled. I think that a lot of Dark Academia is the atmosphere itself how it reflects the people's feelings and predicts the way forward for the story.

I remember thinking it was like a kind of paradise, so full and abundant with sounds and smells. The enchanted wood. Even though the leaves were starting to yellow and curl on some of the trees. And we walked on decay and were breathing in the slow rot of summer’s once dense foliage.

Did they know of the rot that would soon come to their lives? The way it would infect them at the point in time and for all of eternity? Did they anticipate the way it would curse them?

Of course, they didn’t.

No one does.

A Gothic Haunting Tale

The Temple House Vanishing is as much a Gothic tale as it is a subtle psychological study of human desires and obsessions. It runs over the rivalries and bullying in the cloistered compartments, over fantasies and not-discouraged obsessions, and glides over dark truths and sad pasts.

It is not a story for every Dark Academia fanatic. Still, it is a story for every human with a need to acknowledge their forbidden and often hidden desires and obsessions. It is a beautiful story, haunting and sad, and at times, delirious with hedonistic pleasure. It is a tale only of the superlative order.

Nayanika Saikia graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature and was also a Dean’s List student. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree and is also a Booktuber and Bookstagrammer. She can often be found on her Instagram account Pretty Little Bibliophile. You can support her by Buying Her a Coffee.