Ms Hempel Chronicles

(Paperback, Main)

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Description

Ms Beatrice Hempel, English teacher, is new - new to teaching, new to her school, newly engaged, and newly bereft of her devoted father. Overwhelmed by her newness, she struggles to figure out what is expected of her in life and at work. Is it acceptable to introduce swear words into the English curriculum, enlist students to write their own report cards, or bring up personal experiences while teaching a sex-education class

Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum finds her characters at their most vulnerable, then explores those precarious moments in sharp, graceful prose. Ms Hempel Chronicles takes the reader on a journey down the rabbit hole to the wonderland of middle school, memory, daydreaming, and the extraordinary business of growing up.

Reviews

PRAISE FOR"MADELEINE IS SLEEPING" "A hallucinogenic fairy tale that veers between the clinical clarity of hard fact and a surreal mysticism . . . Bynum's lush, poetic imagery is full of vivid, sensuous details one can almost smell, taste, and feel.""--The Boston Globe"
PRAISE FOR "MADELEINE IS SLEEPING" "A hallucinogenic fairy tale that veers between the clinical clarity of hard fact and a surreal mysticism . . . Bynum's lush, poetic imagery is full of vivid, sensuous details one can almost smell, taste, and feel.""--The Boston Globe"

Author Bio

Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum's first novel, Madeleine is Sleeping, was shortlisted for the US National Book Awards in 2004. Her fiction has appeared in the New Yorker, Tin House, the Georgia Review, and the Best American Short Stories. She teaches writing at the University of California, San Diego, and lives in Los Angeles with her family.