53 A Narrow Door - Joanne Harris
Although this is the third in a trilogy of books about St Oswald's School, it can also be read as a stand alone. Whilst set against an academic background it is also a first class thriller that encompasses three time frames.
We first meet Rebecca Price as a little, shy 5 year old girl who often finds herself in the care of much older brother Conrad aged about 14 who she idolises and is the blue eyed boy as far as her parents are concerned. Conrad is a pupil at the prestigious King Henry's Grammar school, on the day of her 5th birthday, he picks his sister up from her school to take her back to his school where he is rehearsing a play and that is to the last time she sees him. Conrad is to disappear never to be seen again and all Rebecca can remember about that day is a green door that he seemingly passed through. Although investigations are to determine that there isn't a door of that colour in the school. As time goes by Rebecca spends much of her time reflecting on that day and possible suppressed childhood memories. Was in fact Conrad, the adored older brother eulogised by their parents and even in his departure still the centre of their universe, actually a person who spent much of his time terrorising her and planting in her mind, the stuff of childhood nightmares, such as a presence known as Mr Smallface living in the drains under the sink in their house ready to snatch her away. These fears are to stalk her throughout her childhood.
We meet Rebecca again as a young teacher who is one of only two women teaching at the private King Henry's School where her brother was previously a pupil. The narrow door of the title is a metaphor for how difficult it is for a woman to enter this bastion of an all male environment, the men who compete for the same posts, passing through a wide door of easy access.. Rebecca lives with her daughter Emily who she had as a teenager, the whys and wherefores of Emily's conception are explained in one of the previous books, which I did read but had forgotten the finer details. Into their lives comes Dominic Buckhurst a teacher at the local comprehensive. He is a supportive partner and becomes a much loved father figure in her daughter's life, mysteriously her daughter is to suffer the same nightmares as those of Rebecca's childhood. Dominic, an ardent socialist has no time for the privilege of the private school where Rebecca teaches and urges her to apply to the comprehensive where he is employed. Dominic is the same age as Conrad would have been, and as the story progresses we learn that he was also briefly a pupil at King Henry's and his evasiveness about his time there and whether he knew Conrad leaves Rebecca doubting his honesty.
In the third time frame, time has moved on, Rebecca now Mrs Buckhurst has become the head of the rival public school to King Henry's, St Oswald's Academy, which featured in the two previous books. She is now a self assured, 40 something woman who has had to fight off male competition to get the post. Early into her first term, A group of male pupils are to discover human remains at the building site of a new swimming pool being built in the school grounds. They report their find to long standing Latin teacher, Roy Straitly who is one of the main characters and voices in the book, particularly in relation to recollections of how things used to be before the school became co-ed and his desire for traditional values are challenged by the new order that Rebecca sweeps in, in her wake.
The diving force of the book is that of Rebecca's life dominated by the missing brother and the prejudice she meets in a dominant and privileged male environment.
The unravelling at the conclusion is wrapped up deftly and so well, making a perfect sense of the multi layered, mysteries and tensions that are cranked up throughout.
Excellent! above average crime.
