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Title details for The English Teacher by Lily King - Available

The English Teacher

by Lily King
Christina Moore
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Unanimously praised for her first novel, The Pleasing Hour, which was called "Splendid ... powerful ... [and] so assured it's hard to believe the book itself is her debut" by The New York Times Book Review, Lily King has written a thrilling successor. In The English Teacher, King uses her superb craftsmanship, effortlessly suspenseful pacing, and tenderly observed insight into marriage, motherhood, and family to expertly limn the life of an independent single mother and her fifteen-year-old son, who is on a circuitous path toward a truth she has long concealed from him.
Fifteen years ago Vida Avery arrived alone and pregnant at elite Fayer Academy.
She has since become a fixture and one of the best English teachers Fayer has ever had. By living on campus, on an island off the New England coast, Vida has cocooned herself and her son, Peter, from the outside world and from an inside secret. For years she has lived largely through the books she teaches, but when she accepts the impulsive marriage proposal of ardent widower Tom Belou, the prescribed life Vida has constructed is swiftly dismantled.
Peter, however, welcomes the changes. Excited to move off campus, eager to have siblings at last, Peter anticipates a regular life with a "normal" family. But the Belou children are still grieving, and the memory of their recently dead mother exerts a powerful hold on the house. As Vida begins teaching her signature book, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, a nineteenth-century tale of an ostracized womanand social injustice, its themes begin to echo eerily in her own life and Peter sees that the mother he perceived as indomitable is collapsing and it is up to him to help.
The English Teacher is a passionate tale of a mother and son's vital bond and a provocative look at our notions of intimacy, honesty, loyalty, family, and the real meaning of home. A triumphant and masterful follow-up to her award-winning debut, The English Teacher confirms Lily King as one of the most accomplished and vibrant young voices of today.
"Beautifully written and carefully observed ... King is a wildly talented writer."—Claire Dederer, Chicago Tribune

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    December 1, 2005

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781449894696
      • File size: 261433 KB
      • Duration: 09:04:39

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This is one of those quiet atmospheric books that slowly and inexorably reveals its secrets. Ostensibly the story of a private school English teacher and her son, it can be analyzed on many intellectual and emotional levels. Christina Moore's understated, elastic voice sets just the right tone, and she is able to transition effortlessly from character to character. Moore has a measured pace that keeps the book moving, but she also knows how to use pauses and silence to focus us on important points in the story. She is equally adept at female and male voices, and is outstanding at capturing the contradictions of adolescents as they face the uncertainties of life. R.I.G. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from June 20, 2005
      A marriage of single parents is more often the stuff of sitcoms than of serious novels, but King (The Pleasing Hour
      ) uses it to great effect in this intense character study. Single mother Vida Avery teaches English at an exclusive northeastern private high school and has a host of protective rituals that keep her life with adolescent son Peter basically on track; she also allows everyone, including boyfriend Tom, to think that she had been married to Peter's father. Peter, who has longed for an intact family, is thrilled when Vida accepts the proposal of Tom, a widower with three children—albeit in an ambivalent manner full of simmering private rage. Whiting winner King renders Vida's seething withholding in a free, direct style that captures everything from knowing responses toward a male co-worker ("who wanted to play jilted suitor, not because he had loved her, but because she had not loved him") to her dreams of killing Peter. She's also excellent on the children's reactions to each other as the households come together and then separate, dramatically and perhaps permanently. King keeps Vida in tight focus throughout, even as the wrenching story of Peter's conception slowly comes to light. Agent, Wendy Weil.
      60,000 first printing; $50,000 ad/promo; 10-city tour.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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