The Teacher's Secret: All is not what it seems in this close-knit community...


Book Description

'Packed with heart and suspense; I absolutely loved it'- Jenny Ashcroft Things aren't always as they seem... A small town can be a refuge, but while its secrets are held, it's hard to know who to trust and what to believe. The Teacher's Secret is a tender and compelling story of scandal, rumor and dislocation, and the search for grace and dignity in the midst of dishonor and humiliation. Suzanne Leal draws us into a public school in the intimate town of Brindle, Australia in which vice principal Terry comes to generational loggerheads with stand-in principal Laurie concerning teachers and their treatment of their pupils. Told over four semesters, this conflict will slowly change their lives. Perfect for fans of The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas, Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty and A Song for Issy Bradley by Carys BrayWhat Reviewers and Readers Say:'Delicately woven• a big-hearted book,' Joanne Fedler&‘Elegantly structured, unsettling, yet with moments of surprising wit,&’ Kathryn Heyman&‘Masterfully constructed, this moving novel warns us of our capacity to make or break the lives of those around us• Drawn with wit and clear-eyed affection, the inhabitants of this wonderful novel will remain with you long after you have put it down.&’ Mark Lamprell&‘A rich interweaving of beautifully drawn characters told so gently and in such exquisite detail that they grew on me until I was lost in their world.&’ Robin de Crespigny'The Teacher&’s Secret is a gutsy yet intricate examination of one of society&’s nightmares, filled with strong characters and relationships interwoven in a storyline that has the reader engrossed to the last page,&’ Robert Wainwright&‘Suzanne Leal writes with her hand on her heart, writing according to its beat• translating the ordinary into the extraordinary. An Australian talent, universally understood.&’ Charles Waterstreet&‘Suspenseful, moving and full of heart. I couldn&’t put it down.&’ Richard Glover&‘An eloquent story of a life thrown into disarray; it drew me in and held me, page after page.&’ Rachel Seiffert&‘Suzanne Leal is a writer of unusual sensitivity, with a rare ability to shed light on the dark tangle of emotional attachments which lies just below the surface of everyday life.&’ John Colle'What a great read! I could not put it down. I can imagine this book being talked about and passed around from teacher to teacher in the school staff room and from parent to parent in the school car park ...' Schooldays Magazine




Look Both Ways


Book Description

"A collection of ten short stories that all take place in the same day about kids walking home from school"--




Language Teachers' Stories from their Professional Knowledge Landscapes


Book Description

Language Teachers’ Professional Knowledge Landscapes is a collection of fourteen narratives from teachers of different languages, at different school levels, in different contexts across Australia. This volume brings together not simply language teacher stories, but also more political stories of the problems associated with school programs and contexts. Highlighted through these stories are some of the major political issues in schools that impact language teachers’ work, and their students’ success in sustained language study. The book is conceptually framed by the work of Clandinin and Connelly (1996) and their notion of ‘levels’ of stories told by teachers about their classrooms: the secret, the sacred and the cover stories. The term ‘professional knowledge landscape’ is used to indicate how teachers can critically situate their work, and thereby understand it better. The collection includes the stories of two outstanding primary language educators, and a story of mixed success in a rural program in teaching the local Aboriginal language (Ngarrabul). There are stories of frustration with policy failures, particularly in supporting the learning of Asian languages. Many of the teacher narrators ask the confronting question: ‘What blocks language learning in Australia?’ They offer the strategies which they have developed, that they see making a difference. Other narratives offer autoethnographic tracking of careers, for example, as a teacher of Latin and Classics, Japanese, French, Spanish, Russian, and of teachers’ ongoing vigour and creativity in advocacy. A number of teachers examine their own identity story for the intercultural learning, which they then offer and extend in student learning. Consistently expressed, there is the need for teachers to take up individual responsibility, while still being strongly supported by their professional community: ‘It is us’ who make the difference, one teacher concludes. Supported by a strong Foreword by Canadian scholar F. Michael Connelly, this ground-breaking collection of narratives represents a form of social research in providing critical illustrations of the issues needing attention for national language education enhancement. It is the only extended inquiry into language teaching in the context of an active policy initiative environment, and the first volume to address the language education landscape through the voices of active language teachers.




The Teacher's Secret


Book Description

'Elegantly structured, unsettling, yet with moments of surprising wit - in this novel Suzanne Leal captures the life of a small community with real tenderness.' Kathryn Heyman, author of Floodline A popular teacher with something to hide. A new principal determined to uncover the truth. A young mother, suddenly single, who struggles to rebuild her life. A grieving daughter who must learn to face the world again. A family forced to flee their homeland and start afresh. A small town can be a refuge, but while its secrets are held, it's hard to know who to trust and what to believe. The Teacher's Secret is a tender and compelling story of scandal, rumour and dislocation, and the search for grace and dignity in the midst of dishonour and humiliation.




Snowbound with the Surgeon


Book Description

Let it snow… Fiercely independent Dr. Neve Harrison won't let the heavy snow stop her from treating patients…she just needs a little help getting there! Her knight-in-shining-armor is handsome, enigmatic Joe Lamont—and while the temperature outside is freezing, inside Joe's four-wheel drive it's practically sizzling! Joe's past is a well-guarded secret, but as the snow continues to fall, and they're trapped in their wintry Yorkshire village with nowhere to hide, can Neve's healing touch warm this scarred ex-army surgeon's heart?




Cincinnati Magazine


Book Description

Cincinnati Magazine taps into the DNA of the city, exploring shopping, dining, living, and culture and giving readers a ringside seat on the issues shaping the region.




Cincinnati Magazine


Book Description

Cincinnati Magazine taps into the DNA of the city, exploring shopping, dining, living, and culture and giving readers a ringside seat on the issues shaping the region.




Religion the Greatest Confidence Trick in History


Book Description

Read the book, and see for yourself how we have been indoctrinated, how the Old Testament and its offshoots of Christianity and Islam have been constructed from Babylonian and Egyptian religions and mythologies.




The Nurture Assumption


Book Description

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK How much credit do parents deserve when their children turn out welt? How much blame when they turn out badly? Judith Rich Harris has a message that will change parents' lives: The "nurture assumption" -- the belief that what makes children turn out the way they do, aside from their genes, is the way their parents bring them up -- is nothing more than a cultural myth. This electrifying book explodes some of our unquestioned beliefs about children and parents and gives us a radically new view of childhood. Harris looks with a fresh eye at the real lives of real children to show that it is what they experience outside the home, in the company of their peers, that matters most, Parents don't socialize children; children socialize children. With eloquence and humor, Judith Harris explains why parents have little power to determine the sort of people their children will become. The Nurture Assumption is an important and entertaining work that brings together insights from psychology, sociology, anthropology, primatology, and evolutionary biology to offer a startling new view of who we are and how we got that way.




The Neighbor's Secret


Book Description

“Addictive, suspenseful and masterfully written...will delight fans of Big Little Lies.” —Michele Campbell “[A] witty, hyperlocal mystery...With a light, Liane Moriarty-esque touch...” —New York Times L. Alison Heller, whose work has been praised by Liane Moriarty as "warm, witty...refreshingly true to life,” explores the ultimate sacrifices of parenting in The Neighbor’s Secret, a propulsive and juicy novel filled with gripping twists and instantly recognizable characters. How well do you really know your neighbors? With its sprawling yards and excellent schools, Cottonwood Estates is the perfect place to raise children. The Cottonwood Book Club serves as the subdivision’s eyes and ears, meeting once a month for discussion, gossip, and cocktails. If their selections trend toward twisty thrillers and salacious murder mysteries, it’s only because the members feel secure that such evil has no place in their own cul-de-sacs. Or does it? What happened to Lena’s family fifteen years ago was a tragic accident, and she will never admit otherwise. Devoted wife and mother Annie refuses to acknowledge—even to herself—the weight of a past shame. And new resident Jen wants friends, but as always, worry about her troubled son gets in the way. When late-night acts of vandalism target the women of the book club in increasingly violent and personal ways, they will be forced to decide how far to go to keep their secrets. At least they all agree on what’s most important: protecting their children at any cost—even if it means someone has to die.