A Great and Terrible Beauty

This week I began reading the book A Great and Terrible Beauty writing by Libba Bray. A Great and Terrible Beauty starts off in Bombay, India in 1895 with Jemma Doyle on her 16th birthday walking the streets with her mother. From the beginning Libba Bray draws your attention to a sort of pendant necklace hanging around Jemma's mother's neck. During these first couple of chapters Jemma's mother is murdered in a mysterious way just after she sends Jemma home from they're walk! She (Jemma) is sent to England where she will attend Spence Academy "where they shape girls into fine women fit for marriage." Once at the dark and mysterious school Jemma meets her roommate Ann a scholarship student (or the schools charity case) and two very mean and rude girls Pippa and Felicity who despite they're cheery sounding names. They "are not lovely at all!" And during all of this as well as continuously during the book Jemma gets the feeling that shes being watched...