The Maidens has been described as a “dark academia” novel. Discuss three features of this aesthetic as it appears in the novel.

The novel begins on an unseasonably warm October day: “[T]he Indian summer prevailed, like an obstinate party guest, refusing to heed the hints from the dying leaves on the trees that it might be time to go” (8). Using at least three examples, explore the significance of weather descriptions in the novel.

Early in the novel, Mariana views her niece through a stained-glass window that “[breaks] up Zoe’s image, fracturing it into a jigsaw of diamond shapes” (55). Drawing on three specific examples from the text, explore what the window represents about Mariana’s fractured emotional state and its impact on how the narrative unfolds.