Ebook: Alone in the Classroom

In a small prairie school in 1929, Connie Flood helps a backward student, Michael Graves, learn how to read. Observing them and darkening their lives is the principal, Parley Burns, whose strange behaviour culminates in an attack so disturbing its repercussions continue to the present day. Connie's niece, Anne, tells the story. Impelled by curiosity about her dynamic, adventurous aunt and her more conventional mother, she revisits Connie's past and her mother's broken childhood. In the process she unravels the enigma of Parley Burns and the mysterious, and unrelated, deaths of two young girls.

Review

'Alone in the Classroom is meant to be read slowly, or even better, read twice' Aritha van Herk, Toronto Globe & Mail.

'a story of murder and obsessive love in prairie Canada, and better even than Alice Munro' Nicholas Shakespeare.

'An ambitious vision and unusually literary page-turner' Calgary Herald.

'beautifully written ... an atmospheric, haunting novel that explores the impact of past events on a new generation' We Love This Book.

'one to savour' BookOxygen.

'A testament to the quality of Hay's writing that the lack of a traditional ending tantalises ... Principal Parley Burns, who moves through the school 'like mustard gas in subtle form', is one of the most memorable villains I've ever encountered' Guardian.

'Highly accomplished and resourceful writer' The Spectator.

'Her pages ... blurred in my tears ... should be read carefully in order to appreciate its richness and its author's genius as a storyteller' Bookgroupinfo.

'unforgettable' The Literary Review.

From the Inside Flap

In a small prairie school in 1929, Connie Flood helps a backward student, Michael Graves, learn how to read. Observing them and darkening their lives is the principal, Parley Burns, whose strange behaviour culminates in an attack so disturbing its repercussions are still felt to the present day. Connie's niece, Anne, tells the story. Impelled by curiosity about her dynamic, adventurous aunt and her more conventional mother, she revisits Connie's past and her mother's broken childhood. In the process, she unravels the enigma of Parley Burns and the mysterious deaths of two young girls. As the novel depends, the triangle of principal, teacher, student opens out into other emotional triangles - aunt, niece, lover; mother, daughter, granddaughter - until a sudden, capsizing love thrusts Anne herself into a newly independent life. This spellbinding tale - set in Saskatchewan and the Ottawa Valley - crosses generations and cuts to the bone. It probes the roots of obsessive love and hate, and celebrates the process of becoming who we are in a world full of startling connections that lie just out of sight.