Nightshade

Nightshade is a dark academic romance set at Sorrowsong University, a prestigious and sinister institution in the Scottish Highlands attended by the world's wealthiest and most morally compromised students. The story opens with Ophelia Winters, a grieving and isolated nineteen-year-old, arriving at university four years after her parents died in a helicopter crash she was told was an accident. Unbeknownst to most, she came to Sorrowsong to investigate the truth—and to uncover whether Cain Green, a powerful aviation CEO and father of fellow student Alex Corbeau-Green, was responsible.

Ophelia's plan to expose Cain and exact revenge is immediately complicated by a chance (and nearly fatal) encounter with Alex himself. Despite her determination to hate him, she finds herself drawn to a man who is equally trapped by his father's darkness: Alex has spent years managing his mother's mental illness, protecting his six younger sisters from their abusive father, and plotting to remove Cain from power. As Ophelia and Alex grow closer, her mission becomes muddied by genuine love, while a mysterious stalker named "Alan Sine" (an anagram of her mother's name) torments her with Shakespeare quotes and escalating violence.

The novel weaves together psychological suspense, dark academia, and enemies-to-lovers romance against a backdrop of wealth, corruption, and family trauma. It explores themes of grief, power, complicity, and the possibility of redemption, asking whether love can survive the weight of secrets and whether survival itself is enough.

The story begins in autumn when Ophelia Winters, age 19, arrives at Sorrowsong University despite having promised her late father never to attend. She is placed in Nightshade House, the most notorious and dangerous dormitory, despite expecting to be in Hemlock. On arrival, she nearly gets hit by a car driven by Alex Corbeau-Green, a strikingly attractive student who immediately becomes entangled in her life. Ophelia soon discovers that Alex is the son of Cain Green, the CEO whose aviation company was involved in the helicopter crash that killed her parents four years earlier—a crash officially ruled accidental but which Ophelia suspects was sabotage.

Ophelia resolves to investigate while maintaining distance from Alex, but their proximity is inescapable. Meanwhile, a mysterious stalker begins harassing her via email, using literary quotes and signing as "Alan Sine." The stalker escalates from emails to physical intrusions: stealing her shoelaces at the tarn, drugging her at a party, and eventually murdering her roommate Sofia Ivanov. Alex, unaware of Ophelia's true reason for being at Sorrowsong, becomes increasingly drawn to her and protective of her, offering her shelter and eventually love.

Through investigation, Ophelia and Alex discover that the stalker is Professor Bancroft, a lecturer at the university who was formerly involved with Ophelia's mother. Bancroft reveals that Cain Green hired him to kill Ophelia's parents because Bancroft had leverage over Cain (a video of Cain with Carmichael's PA). Bancroft also killed Sofia and attempted to drown Ophelia in the tarn, but Alex rescued her.

Christmas break arrives, and Alex visits Ophelia's cold, isolated childhood home. There, Ophelia tells him the truth about her parents' deaths and why she came to Sorrowsong. Instead of rejecting her, Alex affirms his love and commitment. They spend an intimate night together in his car, and Ophelia deletes the damning evidence she had compiled against Cain Green.