La scuola dei desideri

Joanne Harris - image from BBC St. Oswalds Grammar School for Boys is an exclusive British institution, a bastion of tradition and privilege. Roy Straitley is an aging Classics teacher about to reach his 100th term at the school. The sameness and relative serenity of St Oswalds is about to be shatt

Another wonderful written and characterised Joanna Harris novel. A new term, a new group of teachers at a public school - the status quo in the language department is rocked by new ways of working, installation of computers and small, but annoying occurrences and accidents. As these incidents begin

This is definitely the best book I have read so far this year. Why? Let me count the ways. Where to begin? (The only real complaint I have is that the synopsis and teasers given tell a story nothing like what readers have. At least, it reveals only a sliver, and not even a very significant one- comp Leggi tutto

The writing in Gentleman and Players is excellent. Harris is able to evoke a real sense of place and conveys a perfect understanding of when to show and not tell, and how to fully immerse her readers in this rarified setting. Her exploration of identity is remarkably nuanced. Age, gender, class, wor Leggi tutto

"Murder is really no big deal. It's just a boundary, meaningless and arbitrary as all others - a line drawn in the dirt.What would happen if I crossed that line?Another line, daring me to cross it. Like murder!" Imagine these clauses in the first chapter, at St Oswald's Grammar School for Boys with a Leggi tutto

How do you feel when you know you are nothing but the porter’s son and will never ever be accepted by any of the boys at St. Oswald’s? Oh the agony of being overlooked, ignored, despised when you know that you are as good maybe even better than those snoots. That’s when you transform yourself from J Leggi tutto