Books
| NORTH YORKSHIRE |  | | | CLEVELAND | | | | COUNTY DURHAM | |
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School days when life was simpler and conkers OK
TAKE a dash of Heartbeat,
add a sprinkling of All
Creatures Great And Small,
throw in a liberal dash of
Please Sir!, and you've come up
with the recipe for Mister Teacher.
Set in the 1970s, this sequel to the
hugely successful Teacher, Teacher!
by Jack Sheffield (original paperback
by Bantam Press, £10.99)
chronicles the life and times of the
author as he begins his second
year as headmaster of Ragley-onthe-
Forest Church of England
School in North Yorkshire - and is
immediately blamed for an outbreak
of nits.
It's a story that will have you crying
tears of laughter, and of sadness
too, with larger-than-life
characters like Vera, the school secretary, who worships Margaret
Thatcher and dreams of taking
charge of the local WI, Ruby, the
20-stone caretaker - a woman
with a big heart and a wonderful
singing voice - the lovely, but
enigmatic Beth Henderson, and a
huge supporting cast in the shape
of the children who attend the
school and their pesky parents.
I left school at around the time the
book is set, so I can relate to the
"old days", when kids were still allowed
to play with conkers, skateboards
had just been invented
and life was so much simpler. To a
generation brought up with computers
and the national curriculum,
reading this story will prove a
huge culture shock.
Sheffield uses a broad brush to
paint a vivid picture of a lively
school at the heart of a rural community.
Best of all are the things
the children say, which will leave
you chuckling.
A joy to read - and surely the perfect
inspiration for a Sunday night
TV series? Remember, you heard it
here first!
The Ninth Stone by Kylie Fitzpatrick
(published in hardback by
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £12.99) is
a colourfully told tale of daring,
diamonds, murder and Eastern
mysticism set in a dark and sometimes
desperate Victorian London.
Unusually strong female characters
proliferate in the story, the
main character being Sarah, who
disguises herself as a boy to work
in newspapers. Entertainment
seems to consist primarily of
going to watch the hanging of
criminals or falsely convicted innocents
who conveniently put up
the police's crime-solved rate. The
newspapers may well let truth fall
by the wayside if a well-told scurrilous
tale will sell more papers.
Lily Korechchnya is a well-off
widow who writes pieces for the
paper Sarah works for, and eventually
befriends both Sarah and
her younger sister, Ellen. She
mainly produces features on female
emancipation and exceptional
women (including the Goddess
Kali). She has some unusual
ideas for the time and her real
point of view is only to be seen in
the letters she sends to her friends
and (doesn't send to) her dead
husband.
Society dame Lady Herbert, a
strong believer in Eastern mysticism,
is having her diamond collection
catalogued by Lily. She believes
in diamonds as a source of
magic - that they are good for the
pure of heart and bring misfortune
to the evil.
The jewels are stolen, and Lady
Herbert is found dead in strange
circumstances. Lily is due to visit
her husband in India, but before
she can get there, he dies. She has
a locket made containing his hair
and goes to India to explore for
herself and try and find the jewels.
The book is quaintly written with
a strange mix of Victorian styles
and exotic Eastern influences. The
gentry take opium as a recreational
drug and spiritualism is taken
for granted among the characters,
with Hindu and Eastern mysticism
mixed readily with real life.
The book is an entertaining weaving
of intrigue and rags and riches
with some strong lead characters
who don't always behave as you'd
expect them to.
1:33pm Friday 8th February 2008
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