Some lessons change more than the way you speak.
In the coastal town of George, South Africa, Bianca meets Ramon — a magnetic language teacher whose fascination with words runs far deeper than grammar. When he invites her to join his school, Instituto Guerrera, in Malaga, Spain, it feels like a chance to start over.
But the prestigious institute isn't what it seems. Beneath its polished surface lies a quiet network of control, silence, and obsession — a place where language shapes more than thought, and meaning can be turned against you. As Bianca's sense of self begins to erode, she must decide whether she's mastering a new language... or being rewritten by it.
Subjunctive Mood is the first novel in the False Friends Series — a psychological thriller about power, desire, and the dangerous ways communication can deceive. Inspired by real people and a real school, it blurs the boundary between truth and fiction, reminding us that words can both reveal and destroy.
