Description

NAACP Image Award nominee!

Mean Girls meets Dear White People in this bighearted, sharp-witted UK boarding school story about family, friendship, and belonging—with a propulsive mystery at its heart.

Within the walls of Wodebury Hall, an elite boarding school in the English countryside, reputation is everything. But aspiring photographer Iyanu is more comfortable observing things safely from behind her camera.

For Iyanu’s estranged cousin, Kitan, life seems perfect. She has money, beauty, and friends like queen bee Heather. But as a Nigerian girl in a school as white and insular as Wodebury, Kitan struggles with the personal sacrifices needed to keep her place—and the protection she gets—within the exclusive popular crowd.

Then photos from Iyanu’s camera are stolen and splashed across the school the week before the Valentine’s Day Ball—each with a juicy secret written on it. With everyone’s dirty laundry suddenly out in the open, the school explodes in chaos, and the whispers accusing Iyanu of being the one behind it all start to feel like déjà vu.

Each girl is desperate to unravel the mystery of who stole the photos and why. But exposing the truth will change them all forever.

About the Author

Aleema Omotoni is a British-Nigerian author who grew up in London. She writes novels that center Black teens coming of age, falling in love, and navigating all kinds of contemporary and fantasy worlds. She loves musical theater, astrophysics, and rainy autumn days.

Praise For…

"Omotoni’s debut is equal parts intriguing and exciting. She does more than create a space for the necessary commentary on racism, sexism, and homophobia. She also takes us on an emotional roller coaster that has us rooting for both Iyanu and Kitan. Readers will relish the ending and both character transformations." — ALA Booklist

“Recalling Mean Girls, Omotoni’s compulsively entertaining debut adeptly addresses topics surrounding bullying, classism, homophobia, identity, and racism via Iyanu and Kitan’s alternating chapters, which piece together their fraught relationship history amid the school’s current fallout in biting prose.” — Publishers Weekly

“A thought-provoking novel about the high cost of fitting in.” — Kirkus Reviews

"Brimming with high-stakes drama and a witty cast of both noble and nefarious characters, Everyone's Thinking It is a big-hearted, clever page-turner." — Ibi Zoboi, New York Times Bestselling Author

"A Gossip Girl for the new age that’s impossible to put down. Omotoni spins an intricate web of relationships among imensional characters, all tangled in relevant questions of identity, oppression, and community. This is an absolute knockout debut, and once reading, everyone will be thinking it.” — Racquel Marie, author of Ophelia After All

“With its compelling mystery, insightful social commentary, and charming romance, Everyone’s Thinking It is a richly layered and remarkable debut.” — Elise Bryant, author of Happily Ever Afters