Having watched the film of Notes on a Scandal starring Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett and having seen such rave reviews of the book written by Zoe Heller I felt that I should read it and see how the book compared to the film which was very well executed. The book is written in the form of notes/diary written by the central character Barbara Covett, an old-school history teacher, past retiring age; who decided to keep notes on the relationship between her colleague and friend, Bathsheba Hart, and the scandal that she was embroiling herself into. The scandal the spread across a 2year span was the fact that a pottery teacher became embroiled in an affair ...  Read the complete review

Bathsheba Hart is a new teacher at St George?s. From day one she is befriended by Barbara Covett, an older and more established colleague who teaches history. Barbara is a sixty-something spinster, with a sharp tongue and little sense of humour. Sheba is 41, married with two kids and beautiful. She wears flowing clothes and pretty jewellery. The male teachers lust after her, the women turn away from her. So Sheba is glad of Barbara's company. Because of her looks, the kids see Sheba as an easy touch and misbehave during class. Sheba sometimes ended up in tears because they harass ...  Read the complete review

As you can tell from the dates of most of the reviews of this book, I stumbled on it rather after the event, as part of a New Year's resolution to diversify a little from a solid diet of crime fiction! The book is basically an account by Barbara, a recently retired teacher, of a relationship involving Bathsheba, a colleague of hers, and a pupil, which has pretty much led to her seemingly cosy upper class life falling apart. The two had become friends before it happened, and are now effectively taking refuge from the barrage of abuse to which 'Sheba' has been subjected since her wrongdoings were made public. Heller chooses to switch between the past and the ...  Read the complete review

I see that this book is actually a film starring Judi Dench, but I have to admit that I have never heard of it. I was given this book in a book swap with a friend and thought it looked like nice light, fun reading. Now I have read it I will probably see the film at some point too. What really struck me about this book is that what it claims to be about appears to be little more than a vehicle to take us through a moral and emotional exploration. The blurb claims that this book is all about a teacher who has an affair with a pupil. The teacher is new to the profession and she is by all accounts a rather weak and wispy woman. The pupil in question is a ...  Read the complete review

I have just finished this novel, and am left with the feeling of that I am still waiting for its conclusion. The entire story is pretty much as the blurb on the back cover states, and never goes beyond it. The basic premise is that a new teacher, married to an older husband academic, has had an affair with one of her pupils. It is is written from the perspective of her spinster experienced teacher friend, who is actually the one who stabs her in the back who not only drops her friend in it by hinting to another colleague, but then writes a dossier of the whole affair. The book is much more about exploring the relationships between people, what ...  Read the complete review