The Head Teacher by H M Lynn

 

Being in the teaching industry tempted me to choose this book as my next read. The nuances of being a head teacher/head mistress are familiar territory to me and I enjoyed feeling heard and seen through some bits of the storyline.

St Ann's is a strict, almost conservative school and being employed there is surely considered privilege. So you work with the same responsibility and polished vein that one is expected to have. Liz is the Head Teacher and as the story begins, her hands are full with the various tasks she must carry out not only first day of school but through out the academic year. 

But, the academic year is was turning out to be everything that Liz does not want/did not imagine it to be. A scandalous photograph of hers from two decades ago suddenly surfaces on the big screen at the school assembly. Somehow she turns the episode into a moral lesson class and setting an example of how actions of some long gone sordid past could surface and bite you in the butt; how your digital footprint is so dangerous and how one is required to conduct themselves well in such trying times. Some private information could be put up on the internet and it would remain there for eternity. 

This torture does not stop there. There are more sinister episodes against Liz than she could imagine. Hitting below the belt had become a norm and as Liz tried to make amends, she was heading towards losing her mind, her daughter and her marriage in the process.

Liz needed to get to the bottom of this as her revenge was not just hers anymore. Someone had been targetting her daughter as well. And that was something she would not take lying down. Old relationships are dug up, new ones are forged but nothing seems to be working. The mean pranks are now getting unbearable. With her career at stake, her daughter deciding to move far away from this toxicity, and her husband Jamie, reprimanding her to get her act together and also suggesting that she resign and take rest until she felt better again, Liz had to find out who was behind all this. 

Does she find the culprit? Is it her mind playing tricks? Who could be wanting her downfall? Does someone want her job? Why would someone stoop so low just for a job profile? Would her best friend and husband be conspiring something against her? Or is there something else? 

This book was largely okay. The story line dragged out on some chapters, which could have been snipped on the editor's table; I would have liked it a little more crisp. I did think that Liz was losing her mind and this story was about some psychologic haphazard that was happening. It gave me vibes of bipolar or schizophrenia or something on those lines, but I was disappointed with my deducing skills! I listened to the audio book on Everand [it is also available on Audible] amidst chores and work and didn't regret spending my precious, limited time listening to this one.