Heather McGowanโs widely praised first novel introduces a literary artist of consummate skill, and a narrative voice of astonishing sensitivity and sensuousness. Tracking every mercurial shift of her characterโs consciousness, the result is dreamy, disquieting, and achingly alive.Schoolingis a portrait of an adolescent girl, thirteen-year-old Catrine Evans, who following her motherโs death is uprooted from ...Full description
Heather McGowanโs widely praised first novel introduces a literary artist of consummate skill, and a narrative voice of astonishing sensitivity and sensuousness. Tracking every mercurial shift of her characterโs consciousness, the result is dreamy, disquieting, and achingly alive.Schoolingis a portrait of an adolescent girl, thirteen-year-old Catrine Evans, who following her motherโs death is uprooted from her home in America to an English boarding school. There she encounters classmates who sniff glue and engage in arson and instructors who make merciless fun of her accent. She also finds the sympathetic chemistry teacher Mr. Gilbert, who offers Catrine the friendship she so desperately wantsโa friendship that gradually takes on sinister and obsessive overtones.