Why a Booktrail?
2000s: The intersection of individual lives in a small coastal town and school
The Teacher’s Secret
What you need to know before your trail
Terry Pritchard, assistant principal at Brindle Public School, is glad to be back. He loves all the kids but has a soft spot for those who need extra help
By the end of the term, however, Terry finds himself forced into an early retirement, which is as shocking to the school community as it is devastating to him.
Nina Foreman, still reeling from her recent separation and complications at her previous school, jumps at the chance to transfer to Brindle Public and take over Terry’s class. There she is confronted by a group of resentful and disruptive students who hold her responsible for the abrupt departure of their much loved teacher.
Travel Guide
New South Wales – Fictional Brindle
Terry Pritchard is the acting principal of Brindle Public School. He’s an enthusiastic and caring teacher who really wants to improve and help the children in his care. Then there is Nina Foreman who works with children with learning difficulties. There is simmering jealousy and all is not what it seems – small towns can be quite insular at times.
The small coastal town setting of this novel puts a focus on the issues of a small school with big secrets. Whether something you do as a child can ever be forgotten.
The school is a hotbed for people and secrets, jealousies and in a small town school everything is magnified and more. Outside of the school, things are not much better – problems of integration with a new refugee further highlight the issues of belonging.
Booktrailer Review
A very focused novel with characters at the forefront. The focus is on a small coastal community in Australia – deliberately vague for reasons that become clear. A novel structured in line with school life – term one etc and as the time moves on the action builds up in many layers and lessons in every sense of the word are taught and then learned.
This is quite a slow read and somewhat of a study rather than a story – but in that moment where all lives merge in that one school and where the new principal seems to be the catalyst for so much more than change.
Uncomfortable to read at times given the issues and the significance of what remains unsaid. The author Suzanne is a lawyer experienced in child protection and refugee law, and has woven both sensitive issues into a story that will make you see things differently.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Teacher’s Secret
Author/Guide: Suzanne Leal Destination: New South Wales Departure Time: 2000s
Back to ResultsWhere Next?
