Briar University

Briar University functions as much more than a backdrop. It serves as a fully realized social ecosystem where specific rhythms and institutions shape the novel's characters and conflicts in meaningful ways.

Kennedy grounds the setting in the particular textures of college life — hockey culture, frat parties, dining jobs, music recitals, ethics classes — giving Briar a lived-in specificity that makes the world feel authentic rather than generic. For Hannah, the university represents a deliberate fresh start, a place she has constructed a new life after her assault effectively dismantled the one she had previously before attending Briar. Now, Briar carries a dual emotional weight. It is simultaneously a space of healing and a space of possibility.

Additionally, Briar is a space that Hannah must continually negotiate with care, since the social demands of college life — parties, crowds, alcohol, romantic entanglements — press directly against her most vulnerable points.

For...