The Teacher’s Secret, by Suzanne Leal

More a series of vignettes than an actual story, in its first half The Teacher’s Secret brings to mind a Robert Altmann film; a plethora of characters whose lives intersect without connecting. While they eventually all come together at the end, to put on a show – what else? The extended disconnected vignettes can be annoying – 100 pages into the book new characters are still being introduced. Some are not particularly interesting, adding little to the narrative. The asylum-seeker element seems shoehorned into the plot. Character development overall is uneven, building sympathy for some with a long back story while giving others short shrift. It is clear who the villain is – little insight is given into the motivations of the acting principal, who is a cardboard cut-out rather than a credible character. The geography of the novel is confused – ostensibly it is set in a small country town that is magically a $25 cab ride from an international airport. Everyone knows each other, but no-one seems to know what happened to Terry. The tension is built well around the main story of an old-school teacher put in the wrong by modern bureaucracy. He is wonderfully caring with the kids, but does he cross the line? His story is very sad and all-too believable, but it gets a little lost among the multitude of voices and points of view. It could have done with less breadth and more depth.