Elizabeth Uphoff Courtney

I'm very pleased to share that my debut novel, LATIN CLUB, the inaugural winner of the New Haven Book Prize, will be published on September 22nd, 2026, by Woodhall Press. 

Weaving an epic tale of family secrets and forbidden love that collide against the backdrop of an elite boarding school in the 1980s, LATIN CLUB tells the story of a new Yale graduate, David, who returns to his Connecticut prep school alma mater to teach the Classics alongside his beloved godfather, Jeremiah, a closeted gay man. On the first day of classes, David comes face to face with Felix, the girl with a boy's name that he's just made a date with, neither of them having any idea that they are actually teacher and student. Equally distraught at this revelation, David and Felix must keep their feelings in check as they grapple with disruptive students, unhinged teachers, and a lecherous priest. Following a family tragedy, long-buried secrets emerge. Secrets that could turn out to be deadly. As danger escalates, David must decide: is his forbidden attraction to Felix worth risking his entire future? And will he be able to outrun disaster when the sins of the past collide with the present? 

An authentic rendering of boarding school life in the 1980s from an author who lived it, Latin Club is an emotional, passionate, and amusing portrait of what happens behind the closed doors of America's most elite spaces.

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