Class: "Just like Malory Towers for grown ups" (Maggie Adair)

by Jane Beaton

'Funny, page-turning and addictive . . . just like Malory Towers for grown-ups'
Sophie Kinsella

Class is the first novel in Jenny Colgan's beloved Maggie Adair series.

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Maggie went to the window and opened it wide, inhaling the lovely, ozoney air off the sea. Why had she never lived by the sea before? Why had she always looked out on housing estates and not the little white hulls of trawlers bobbing off in the distance?

It's gloriously sunny in Cornwall as the school year starts at the little boarding school by the sea.
Maggie, the newest teacher at Downey House, is determined to make her mark - but will it be at the expense of her relationship with safe, dependable Stan?

Simone has won a scholarship and wants to make her parents proud. Forced to share a room with the glossy, pretty, clever girls of Downey House, she needs to find a friend, fast.

Fliss is furious at being sent away from her home. As Simone tries desperately to fit in, Fliss tries desperately to get out.

Over the course of one year, friendships will bloom and lives will be changed forever.

"A brilliant boarding school book, stuffed full of unforgettable characters, thrilling adventures and angst..." - Lisa Jewell

• ISBN10: 0751553298
• ISBN13: 9780751553291
• Publish Date: 28 July 2016 (first published 18 September 2008)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
• Imprint: Sphere
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

I’d not heard of Jane Beaton’s debut novel Class apart from reviews on fantasticfiction.co.uk that other authors had written. However I saw this in the bookswap and thought: Why not? The cover is beautiful and I liked the sound of the blurb on the back.

Was it as good as all the authors have said? In a word, yes. It was a fantastic read full of all kinds of likeable characters. Even those that start off mean end up likeable. I have no idea how accurate the descriptions of boarding school are as the only boarding school novels I’ve read were Harry Potter.

We get a handy list of all characters in the beginning of the book but the main characters were: Maggie Adair, Veronica Deverly, Felicity (Fliss) Prosser and Simone Kardashian. There was mention of the other teachers and students but those were the main four.

We follow all of the characters through a full schooling year and cut out of the book is all of the filler, we’re straight to the point and find out what goes on in the mind of the girl who doesn’t want to be there (Fliss) and the girl who won a Scholarship to get there but is still unhappy (Simone) as well as the secret the headteacher carries around (Veronica) and the infatuation a teacher has with a fellow, Downey Boys, teacher (Maggie).

It’s written beautifully and doesn’t leave out any of the four characters at all and Jane manages to capture both teenage angst and adult angst perfectly.

When I first saw the list of characters at the beginning of the book I panicked wondering how I would remember them all throughout the book so it was a welcome surprise only a few were main and the rest were just used sparingly. I enjoyed Mademoiselle Claire Crozier, the French teacher with a secret and loved David McDonald, the aforementioned teacher Maggie becomes slightly infatuated with. I also loved his sideick dog, Stephen Daedalus.

As well as it being an enjoyable read, Jane manages to use references to the now – Sophie Kinsella, Lisa Jewell, LOST and even Nicolas Sarkozy! I love when authors do that – we’ll be reading about Twitter next…

Overall I really enjoyed the book and it was left perfectly to pick up for the second year of Downey House which – unfortunately – has been pushed back from an August 2009 release to a 2010 release… I can’t wait that long!

Rating: 5/5

[wyvernfriend]

A boarding school story for adults. The author admits that she was fascinated by boarding school stories when she was younger and that this was a natural progression of that fascination. And it is. While the cover bills it as "the secret diary of a teacher in turmoil" it isn't really what it is. This isn't a story of diary entries or a first person look at the world but a story of a woman working in teaching in a boarding school and the variety of issues that crop up.

It's nothing major and it really is quite typical chick-lit but it was a fun and quick read.