The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman

Synopsis :

Twenty years ago, Jane Hudson fled the Heart Lake School for Girls in the Adirondacks after a terrible tragedy.  The week before her graduation, in that sheltered wonderland, three lives were taken, all victims of suicide.  Only Jane was left to carry the burden of a mystery that has stayed hidden in the depths of Heart Lake for more than two decades.

Now Jane has returned to the school as a Latin teacher, recently separated and hoping to make a fresh start with her young daughter.  But ominous messages from the past dredge up forgotten memories.  And young, troubled girls are beginning to die again - as piece by piece the shattering truth slowly floats to the surface...

At first I thought this would be a rather 'dark' book but surprisingly it wasn't really so.  It was rather sombre as my initial impression was that the story will focus on teen suicide but as it happens, it turned out to be something rather different.

The Lake of Dead Languages is about Jane and the secret that Jane kept for twenty years and the secret is being slowly revealed as the story progress.  The plot is quite unique as things are not what they seems to be and the many characters are not who they say that are.  The story is a good example of how the burden of a secret can hold a person back and Jane is not able to move on in her life due to the incident twenty years ago.

However, it seems that she's not the only one and someone from her past is trying their level best to make sure she pays for they think she did or didn't do twenty years ago.

This book would not have been my first choice due to the title and the image on the front cover but it is a rather dark horse and it turns out to be rather interesting.  I highly recommend it to you if you come across this title.