In the pages of the book “Fine Young People,” readers meet Frankie, who is a good daughter, a loyal best friend and a model student in her final semester at an elite Catholic prep school.
Frankie’s hockey player classmate Kyle Murphy takes his life after posting a cryptic message about Woolf Whiting — a former student and hockey player who died in a presumed suicide 18 years earlier. A third player, Colton Brooks, also died four years before Murphy.
In the book, Frankie and her best friend Shiv do some investigative reporting for their senior journalism class project.
It takes place in Sewickley.
“I really see this as a Pittsburgh novel,” said author Anna Bruno. “Many scenes are in Sewickley, but there are other areas such as the incline on the South Side and the Strip District. There is a lot of nostalgia.”
The nostalgia takes Bruno back to her days growing up in Upper St. Clair. She attended Shady Side Academy and now lives in Iowa. Bruno said she chose Sewickley because she wanted a town where people could envision walking down a main street. The book mentions that industrialists built their weekend estates in Sewickley to escape the “choking pollution of the Steel City.”
“I love Sewickley and have an affinity for it,” Bruno said. “It is charming.”
Bruno will be in town on Aug. 2 for an event at Penguin Bookshop.
Bobbi Irving, book seller for Penguin Bookshop, said the book grabbed her interest from the first page.
“People are interested in this event. They’ve been asking about it,” Irving said. “The book is an enjoyable read for sure.”
Irving said she likes that Sewickley is the town referenced in the book, and that through reading it, people can see that Sewickley has affluent residents as well as middle-class working folks.
“I like that she addresses that,” Irving said. “Maybe one reason she chose Sewickley is that there is a lot of hockey interest here in Sewickley.”
The book’s title is kind of tongue-in-cheek, Bruno said, as sometimes prep school students are referred to as “Fine young people.”
Its cover captures the mood of the novel because the colors portray mystery and resemble a dusk setting over the school, which Bruno describes as “an elite Catholic prep school in a wealthy Pittsburgh enclave.”
She dedicated the book to her best friend in high school, Leena, who read an early draft. As best friends Frankie and Shiv dive into the past, they discover much more than they expected in the cold-case fiction mystery.
In the book, Frankie interviews Woolf’s sister, who is a high-powered lawyer in New York; his former girlfriend, who Woolf’s mother is convinced knows more about his death than she has revealed, according to the book, and his best friend. Frankie discovers much more than she expected about the history of her supposed elite education. Overhearing a conversation between her mother and Frankie’s philosophy teacher, Jesuit priest Father Michael, created even more intrigue.
The book went through several revisions, Bruno said.
“It was kind of like doing a puzzle where you move pieces around until you find out where they fit,” Bruno said.
Richelle Klug, head of communications for Sewickley Public Library, said via email that “Fine Young People” is on their radar, but as it’s a forthcoming title, library staff haven’t yet had the opportunity to read it.
“We’re looking forward to exploring it once it’s released and seeing how Sewickley is represented,” Klug said. “We are always excited and proud when Sewickley — a community so rich in character and history — is highlighted in books.”
