Notes On A Scandal by Zoe Heller

 

When pottery teacher Sheba Hart joins the teaching staff in a London school, the established teaching staff are agog.  Sheba is lovely and dresses in floating layers, not the staid costumes of her peers.  There is competition for her friendship but Barbara Covett, an older teacher who has been there for much of her career, refuses to be as open as the others.  

Barbara slowly starts a friendship with Sheba and soon manages to push out the other rivals for Sheba's attention.  Barbara is sure that she and Sheba are soulmates so it is a shock when she learns that Sheba is having an affair with one of her fifteen year old students and furthermore, that she thinks that it is a love story and a love that will endure.

When the affair becomes public, as it must, only Barbara remains at Sheba's side.   Her husband asks her to leave the house and her only access to her daughter and son is at his pleasure for a few hours weekly.  Her job is gone and the papers are full of this delicious scandal.  Barbara starts taking care of Sheba, cooking and cleaning and making sure Sheba gets up and takes care of herself.  But has Sheba traded one relationship prison for another?

Zoe Heller comes from a writing family, with her brother, father and grandfather all being writers as well.  This novel was nominated for a Booker Prize and was made into a movie.  It explores the dark side of female friendships and how a misfortune for one party can establish an unhealthy dependence on the other.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.