Most of the time, novelists turn in their manuscripts, complete edits and then hope that their book is well received once it makes its way into the bookstore displays and library shelves.

And sometimes they receive a gift from the universe in the form of a breaking news alert.

Such was the case for Bruce Holsinger, whose novel “The Gifted School” (Riverhead Books) could have been ripped from the Operation Varsity Blues college admissions scandal.

“When the news about the scandal broke, I was riveted and horrified as everyone else — but I won’t pretend not to have been thrilled when readers (beginning with my father-in-law!) started making the connection with ‘The Gifted School,’ ” says Holsinger. “The novel is above all about overparenting — about the horrendous and even illegal lengths parents will go in pursuit of opportunity and prestige for their children. And that’s what’s really at the center of Operation Varsity Blues.”

In Holsinger’s novel, an affluent Colorado community becomes a hotbed of tension and intrigue when a new public magnet school — advertised as being even better than their already excellent area public school — announces plans to open and begins its multi-tiered admissions process. A group of close-knit parents begins to scheme and plot, some going to great lengths to ensure their children gain entry. Without giving away any spoilers, none of the parents come out looking very good at the end.

That said, his novel isn’t quite as over-the-top as the real-life scandal.

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“If I had written about falsifying photos [in my novel], my editor would have laughed me out of the building!” says Holsinger, referring to the parents who Photoshopped their children into athletic photos for their college applications. (In his novel, there is some falsification of test scores but, alas, no fake crew photos). As the saying goes, truth is stranger than fiction.