Notes on a scandal

Title Notes on a scandal
What was she thinking?
Author Zoe Heller
Publication Penguin
Size 244p
Language ENG ENG
ISBN 0141012250
Topics English fiction--Love
Notes Barbara, a veteran faculty member at a comprehensive school in London, is neither a reliable nor a disinterested first-person narrator in the story. A lonely, unmarried woman in her early sixties, she is eager to find a special, close friend. However, she reveals that she has been unable to make a previous friendship last as she was accused of being domineering and demanding. Her former friend, teacher Jennifer Dodd, even threatened her with an injunction if she tried contacting her again. When Bathsheba "Sheba" Hart is hired as an art teacher, Barbara immediately senses that they might become close friends. When Sheba invites Barbara for Sunday lunch with her family, she is ecstatic and gives the lunch date enormous significance. Initially unknown to Barbara, Sheba falls in love with a 15-year-old pupil, Steven Connolly, who is from a deprived background and has literacy problems. Although they frequently have sex right from the start of their relationship, including at school and in the open on Hampstead Heath, the unlikely couple successfully conceal their affair from colleagues and family. During Barbara's first visit to Sheba's residence, she tells Barbara a highly expurgated version of what has happened between her and Connolly, claiming only that he has tried to kiss her and that she discouraged his advances. Barbara offers her some advice on how to cool the boy's ardour, and considers the matter closed. But Barbara eventually finds out about the affair on Guy Fawkes Night, when she sees Sheba talking to Connolly on Primrose Hill. Barbara feels betrayed that Sheba did not confide in her during the early stages of their friendship, and is angered by Sheba's obsession with Connolly and her relative neglect of their friendship. [wikipedia]
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