The Thoroughbreds

1. So Back

Overview

A year ago Charley Hicks arrived at Tiffin Academy scared, friendless, and sure she had made a mistake. Now she comes back confident, with East beside her, and claims the place as hers. Everything else is exactly as she left it.

Charley returns for her senior year in Andrew Eastman's black pickup, a year after arriving as a junior in her mother's van. Fran Hicks had opposed boarding school, but Charley fled her stepfather, Joey, and followed her late father's path. East charmed Fran into letting him drive Charley from Baltimore. Fran was glad to stay home and keep an eye on Joey. Charley texts "Arrived safely," then tells East they are back. Her goals:

• straight A's
• a standout college essay
• admission to at least three schools

Her junior year brought Cinnamon Peters's suicide, the Zip Zap app, and East's speakeasy, Priorities. Now she faces what's ahead.

Key Takeaways

• Charley returns to Tiffin by a different road than she first took, but for the same reason: she needs to be far from her stepfather.
• Fran is relieved to stay in Baltimore, but it means she lets a teenage boy make the long drive she refused to make.
• Charley turns the year ahead into targets she can hit: grades, an essay, and acceptances. She knows she can't control much else.
• The death last spring, the app, and the speakeasy still affect her senior year. East is already part of what happened.

2. Tiffin Talks: How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Overview

A man returns to the school he once attended, this time to teach, and goes on a first date he is certain went well. It did not, and nothing in the evening itself explains the ending he gets.

Tiffin Opens

Tiffin begins its 115th year with chapel bells, Ms. Robinson greeting cars, and Mr. Rivera helping boys into Classic North. Rhode Rivera spent the summer in a West Village sublet, working out at a gym called TMPL and playing pickup basketball at West Fourth Street.

The Date and the Story

A July Bumble date with Yardley, a Stuyvesant teacher who went to Deerfield, goes well until she sends a red-flag emoji the next day and ghosts him. Rhode writes "Green Flag / Red Flag," a story that tells both sides of what happened between them. Oscar, his former editor and now an agent, likens it to "Cat Person" and shops it to The New Yorker, Esquire, and LitBoo. The New Yorker and Esquire pass, but LitBoo offers $1,600, then asks him to use initials because his second novel reads as though it dislikes women. He refuses. LitBoo apologizes, raises the offer to $2,000, and the story gets 25,000 downloads and a Best American Short Stories 2026 submission.

The Girls and the Arrivals

Sixth-form girls assess one another outside Classic South. Olivia H-T now admires Tilly Benbow. Tilly looks unwell. Taylor Wilson jumps into Hakeem Pryce's arms, while Cassie Lee feels worse. Davi Banerjee arrives by Escalade with a custom neon sign and runs to Andrew Eastman and Charley Hicks. Olivia asks Tilly about revenge on Charley, but Tilly has changed. Rhode tells Hakeem his summer was the best of his life. The year begins.

Key Takeaways

• Rhode's summer of sublet, gym routine, and pickup basketball produced a story out of a bad July date, so he got something useful out of it instead of just feeling bad.
• Refusing to publish under initials was the right call: the outlet apologized, improved its terms, and the story reached a wide readership and award consideration.
• Tiffin's 115th opening starts the same way, but the social ranking among the sixth-form girls has shifted, with Olivia's admiration moving to Tilly, Cassie feeling worse as Taylor greets Hakeem, and Davi showing up and going straight to Andrew and Charley.
• Tilly returns visibly unwell and without the appetite for revenge on Charley that Olivia assumes, so the girls have moved on from old grudges in ways that no longer fit who they used to be.

3. New Blood

Overview

A new school year starts at Tiffin, and the woman in charge is hiding a crisis she can't talk about. Audre Robinson, the head of school, finds seven million dollars missing from the school account, a quarter of the operating budget. Her financial adviser, Oak Bellamy, won't return her calls. Two new hires arrive, picked by admissions head Cordelia Spooner: college counselor John "Mav" Maverick and history teacher Dr. John "Coop" Coopersmith. Tiffin drops to sixth in America Today's boarding school rankings, down from second last year, while Northmeadow sits at ninth. Only Audre can access the operating budget, so she rules out Cordelia and Chef Haz. But her sixth sense, which she calls the Feeling, won't let it go.

Audre goes back over the rules for student interaction. No romantic or sexual overtures. If a student makes a move, get out and report it. Meet students in public places like the Sink or the Teddy. If you meet in an office, keep the door partly open. Never be alone with a student in a closed dorm room. And sensitive disciplinary talks always include the dorm parent.

Roy Ewanick picks up sixth-former Liam Donovan from Springfield. Liam shows up with his belongings in a trash bag. He's a scholarship student from Flushing High School, admitted because board president Jesse Eastman insisted, and Eastman's girlfriend, O'Malley Donovan, arranged it. According to the book, Liam's brother died of a fentanyl overdose. Room 307 is stocked with clothes, supplies, and a MacBook. Audre promises him an optometrist appointment for his broken glasses.

Davi Banerjee hangs a neon sign that reads "comparisons are odious," a line from Evelyn Waugh's A Handful of Dust. Charley admires it. Olivia H-T and Tilly Benbow don't. Davi offers her old sign to Olivia.

Olivia turns down Davi's old sign, even though she wants it, because she's calculating it could be worth something if Davi gets more famous. She brings up Liam, the new sixth-former from the city. Davi tells her she sounds like she's scheming. Tilly calls Liam poor and points out he arrived with his things in a trash bag. Charley says he comes from a less advantaged background, and that East met him over the summer and judged him good and smart. Tilly calls him a good, smart, poor person and tells Olivia she can do better.

Olivia wonders if Liam might want a girlfriend who doesn't care about hedge fund money or summer houses. She watched him get out of Mr. Ewanick's van, extremely hot, tall and broad. His overwhelmed vulnerability pulled her in, because she's felt the same way at Tiffin for three years. She is scheming.

Comparison has run through Olivia's whole time at Tiffin. Her parents' money never bought her popularity or acceptance. She isn't as thin as other girls on her floor, or as normal. The girls she wants to bond with have tougher egos and never chase anyone, even Charley Hicks, who showed up last year in kilts with endless confidence. But comparisons can be useful. As a sixth-former, Olivia can see how far she's come from her earlier self. She started intermittent fasting and lost thirty pounds over the summer. She got a limited-edition plum Goyard tote that impressed Tilly. Comparisons are goals, and this year will be better.

Olivia leaves frostily, suggesting Davi pawn the old sign on a third-former. Tilly follows with the dog, and Charley stays with Davi.

Audre alone controls Tiffin's account, so an outside theft seems unlikely. Still, her gut tells her the problem is bigger than the ledger. Tiffin's ranking has slipped, and the two new hires were handpicked. The school is trying to control how it looks. Its interaction rules also admit that adults and students getting too close is a real risk. Liam's board-sponsored scholarship will test whether Tiffin's charity can survive its own status hierarchy. Olivia's pursuit of Liam is a social calculation. She compares herself to others constantly, which makes her both vulnerable and ruthless. Davi's sign and the girls' sorting make that clear.

Key Takeaways

• Audre Robinson discovers seven million dollars missing from Tiffin's operating budget, and only she has access to the account.
• Two new hires arrive at Tiffin as the school's ranking drops from second to sixth.
• Liam Donovan, a scholarship student from Flushing High, arrives with his belongings in a trash bag and a board connection behind his admission.
• Olivia sees Liam as a potential boyfriend who doesn't care about money, but she's also scheming.
• Olivia's habit of comparing herself to others drives both her insecurity and her ambition.

4. Tiffin Talks: Jewel Pond

Overview

It’s the last first day of school at Tiffin, and the usual cookout at Jewel Pond brings old friends, new tensions, and plenty of goodbyes.

The Cookout

The year starts with All-School Meeting and a pig roast at Jewel Pond.

Olivia, Liam, and Davi

Olivia H-T is grossed out by the whole pig, but she follows Liam Donovan through the line and eats the skin anyway. Liam is six-foot-three and wearing new clothes Olivia thinks might be donations. She invites him to sit with her and Tilly. Then Davi Banerjee shows up, introduces herself, and pulls Liam away to sit with Charley and East. Olivia throws her plate in the trash.

Taylor's Last Cookout

Tilly Benbow is crying in the woods on the phone. Taylor knows this is her last Move-In Day cookout. She would trade places with Cassie Lee, her rival. Taylor is Honor Board chair, second in rank to Head Prefect Madison J., and dating Hakeem, who is going to Dartmouth. She plans to lose her virginity to him on First Dance night. Dub, the quarterback, has been weirdly cheerful. Taylor thinks he still hasn’t opened the email his late girlfriend Cinnamon Peters asked him to save until graduation.

Rankings, Faculty, and College

Audre calls Tiffin’s sixth-place ranking a relief after last year’s second. She introduces new teachers John Maverick and John Coopersmith. Sixth-form girls crowd around Mav, the new college counselor. East refuses to apply to college at all. Charley wants to meet Mav, but she’s stuck choosing between East and her own plans.

The End of the Day

Davi wades waist-deep with Liam, who admits he can’t swim. Olivia is afraid of water, and she takes this as proof they are soulmates. Alone at the pond, Cordelia Spooner gets a text from Honey saying she’s been thinking of her and misses her. Cordelia deletes it, instantly wants it back, and goes looking for her sandals.

Key Takeaways

• The day starts with a big group meal and ends with Cordelia alone at the water, deleting a message and regretting it right away.
• Olivia tries to get close to Liam, but Davi pulls him away, and Olivia gives up.
• Dub acts cheerful, but he still hasn’t opened Cinnamon’s email. He seems to be avoiding his grief, not moving past it.
• For the sixth form, the future is full of hard choices and rankings. Charley weighs East against her ambitions, Audre is relieved to be sixth, and Taylor compares her last cookout to Cassie’s life.