A Narrow Door

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What to expect

'Twist follows twist and nothing is what it seems' ALEX MICHAELIDES
'Exhilarating, addictive, fierce' BRIDGET COLLINS
'A psychological thriller you can't put down' HARLAN COBEN
'Dark, Gothic, and propulsively readable' RUTH WARE
'A dark and richly enjoyable novel that already feels like a classic' ELLY GRIFFITHS

* * * * *

Now I'm in charge, the gates are my gates. The rules are my rules.

It's an incendiary moment for St Oswald's school. For the first time in its history, a headmistress is in power, the gates opening to girls.

Rebecca Buckfast has spilled blood to reach this position. Barely forty, she is just starting to reap the harvest of her ambition. As the new regime takes on the old guard, the ground shifts. And with it, the remains of a body are discovered.

But Rebecca is here to make her mark. She'll bury the past so deep it will evade even her own memory, just like she has done before. After all...

You can't keep a good woman down.

* * * * *

Praise for Joanne Harris's other books set in the St Oswald's world:

'A masterpiece of misdirection' Val McDermid
'Delivers an almighty twist . . . brilliantly atmospheric ' The Times
'[A] gripping psychological thriller . . . Harris is one of our most accomplished novelists' Daily Express
'[A] delicious black comedy' Daily Mail

Critics Review

Joanne Harris's assured hand leads you into a psychological maze, deeper and deeper into a dark world of emotional complexity and betrayal, where twist follows twist and nothing is what it seems. A masterful narrative voice, and a compulsive thriller from one of our greatest writers. I absolutely loved it
Alex Michaelides
Watch out for the quiet ones. Clever and terrifying.
Maggie Gee

User Reviews

Book 4.0
Narration 4.0
4.0
4.0
I very much enjoyed this book which is ostensibly a whodunnit about the disappearance of a boy and his sister looking for answers. It's set between modern day where she is a head teacher explaining her past to a colleague, and the 80s when she first started working as a teacher and is looking for answers about her brother's disappearance. The mystery is kept until the end, and the twist that I expected is followed by one that took me by surprise!

The other element of the story is about the difficulty that women have in entering positions of power, especially in an 'old boys club' like a private school, and the lengths someone will go to keep themselves there.

The narration was generally good. My only quibble is that sometimes it wasn't clear which time period we were starting the chapter in until several sentences in which could be confusing.
elleninelle 24/05/2022

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