The Teacher's Secret

(Paperback)

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Description

'Elegantly structured, unsettling, yet with moments of surprising wit - in this novel Suzanne Leal captures the life of a small community with real tenderness.' Kathryn Heyman, author of Floodline

A popular teacher with something to hide.

A new principal determined to uncover the truth.

A young mother, suddenly single, who struggles to rebuild her life.

A grieving daughter who must learn to face the world again.

A family forced to flee their homeland and start afresh.

A small town can be a refuge, but while its secrets are held, it's hard to know who to trust and what to believe.

The Teacher's Secret is a tender and compelling story of scandal, rumour and dislocation, and the search for grace and dignity in the midst of dishonour and humiliation.

Reviews

'Beautifully written, entirely absorbing, and full of characters that live with you long after you finish reading, The Teacher's Secret is packed with heart and suspense... This brilliant book is a true page-turner, and I absolutely loved it.'--Jenny Ashcroft, author of Beneath a Burning Sky
'A delicately woven tapestry of interlinking stories... This is a big-hearted book about a small community and how small acts of kindness and courage, and the willingness to face the truth, restore the human spirit to a sense of new belonging.'--Joanne Fedler, author of Secret Mothers' Business
'Elegantly structured, unsettling, yet with moments of surprising wit - in this novel Suzanne Leal captures the life of a small community with real tenderness.'--Kathryn Heyman, author of The Accomplice
'Masterfully constructed, this moving novel warns us of our capacity to make or break the lives of those around us... Drawn with wit and clear-eyed affection, the inhabitants of this wonderful novel will remain with you long after you have put it down.'--Mark Lamprell, author of The Full Ridiculous
'Leal's novel shows us, achingly and beautifully, the slippery nature of truth and the destruction that is occasionally wrought from good intensions.'--Maggie Joel, author of The Safest Place in London
'A rich interweaving of beautifully drawn characters told so gently and in such exquisite detail that they grew on me until I was lost in their world.'--Robin de Crespigny, filmmaker and author of The People Smuggler
'The Teacher's Secret is a gutsy yet intricate examination of one of society's nightmares, filled with strong characters and relationships interwoven in a storyline that has the reader engrossed to the last page.'--Robert Wainwright, author of Sheila
'Suzanne Leal writes with her hand on her heart, writing according to its beat... translating the ordinary into the extraordinary. An Australian talent, universally understood.'--Charles Waterstreet, author of Precious Bodily Fluids: A Larrikin's Memoir
'Suspenseful, moving and full of heart. I couldn't put it down.'--Richard Glover, author of Flesh Wounds
'An eloquent story of a life thrown into disarray; it drew me in and held me, page after page.'--Rachel Seiffert, author of The Dark Room
'Suzanne Leal is a writer of unusual sensitivity, with a rare ability to shed light on the dark tangle of emotional attachments which lies just below the surface of everyday life.'--John Collee, acclaimed author and screenwriter

Author Bio

SUZANNE LEAL is a lawyer experienced in child protection, criminal law and refugee law. A former legal commentator on ABC Radio, Suzanne is a regular interviewer at Sydney Writers' Festival and other literary functions. She has been a judge for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards and for 'The Nib' Waverley Library Award for Literature. The Teacher's Secret is her second novel. www.suzanneleal.com