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A Narrow Door: A Novel by [Joanne Harris]

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Joanne Harris

A Narrow Door: A Novel Kindle Edition

by Joanne Harris (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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An electrifying tale of psychological suspense and revenge at an elite boarding school where secrets run deep.

"A dark world of emotional complexity and betrayal, where twist follows twist and nothing is what it seems."—Alex Michaelides, bestselling author of The Silent Patient

"Exhilarating. Addictive. Fierce."—Bridget Collins, bestselling author of The Binding

"A psychological thriller you can't put down and an antiheroine you won't forget."—Harlan Coben

***

Now I'm in charge, the gates are my gates. The rules are my rules.

It's an incendiary moment for St Oswald's school. For the first time in its history, a headmistress is in power, the gates opening to girls.

Rebecca Buckfast has spilled blood to reach this position. Barely forty, she is just starting to reap the harvest of her ambition. As the new regime takes on the old guard, the ground shifts. And with it, the remains of a body are discovered.

But Rebecca is here to make her mark. She'll bury the past so deep it will evade even her own memory, just like she has done before. After all...

You can't keep a good woman down.

Print length

445 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Pegasus Crime
Publication date

January 4, 2022
File size

1977 KB
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From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Harris keeps the suspense high all the way to the exhilarating ending. This spectacular feat of storytelling will seduce the reader from page one." (Publishers Weekly (starred))

"Joanne Harris’s previous novels set at the tweedy British boarding school St. Oswald’s embodied the spirit of a fierce chess match. The icy rage and ruthless revenge is turned up even higher in A Narrow Door, in which St. Oswald’s, long a boys-only domain, is dragged into the current century with the appointment of its first headmistress in its 500-year-old existence. To the chagrin of the elderly Latin master Roy Straitley, Rebecca Buckfast’s arrival not only portends change, it leads to the excavation of secrets from St. Oswald’s depths — namely, the literal unearthing of a long-buried body. Readers will learn the dead person’s identity, but the novel’s most shocking revelations have to do with the loss of one woman’s agency and the means, however terrible, even monstrous, through which she can reclaim it." (Sarah Weinman New York Times Book Review)

"Joanne Harris’s previous novels set at the tweedy British boarding school St. Oswald’s embodied the spirit of a fierce chess match. The icy rage and ruthless revenge is turned up even higher in A Narrow Door, in which St. Oswald’s, long a boys-only domain, is dragged into the current century with the appointment of its first headmistress in its 500-year-old existence. To the chagrin of the elderly Latin master Roy Straitley, Rebecca Buckfast’s arrival not only portends change, it leads to the excavation of secrets from St. Oswald’s depths — namely, the literal unearthing of a long-buried body. Readers will learn the dead person’s identity, but the novel’s most shocking revelations have to do with the loss of one woman’s agency and the means, however terrible, even monstrous, through which she can reclaim it." (Sarah Weinman New York Times Book Review)

About the Author

Joanne Harris is an Anglo-French author, whose books include fourteen novels, two cookbooks and many short stories. Her work is extremely diverse, covering aspects of magic realism, suspense, historical fiction, mythology and fantasy. In 2000, her 1999 novel Chocolat was adapted to the screen, starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. She is an honorary Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge, and in 2013 was awarded an MBE by the Queen. Her novel A Narrow Door is also availble from Pegasus Books.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09841CLWW
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pegasus Crime (January 4, 2022)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 4, 2022
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1977 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 445 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #573,779 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #4,641 in Psychological Thrillers (Kindle Store)
- #9,413 in Psychological Thrillers (Books)
- #35,626 in Suspense Thrillers

Customer Reviews:
2,870 ratings

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Joanne Harris

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Joanne Harris (OBE, FRSL) is the internationally renowned and award-winning author of over twenty novels, plus novellas, cookbooks, scripts, short stories, libretti, lyrics, articles, and a self-help book for writers, TEN THINGS ABOUT WRITING. In 2000, her 1999 novel CHOCOLAT was adapted to the screen, starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. She is an honorary Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge, and is currently Chair of the Society of Authors.

Her hobbies are listed in Who's Who as 'mooching, lounging, strutting, strumming, priest-baiting and quiet subversion of the system'. She is active on Twitter, where she writes stories and gives writing tips as @joannechocolat; she posts writing seminars on YouTube; she performs in a live music and storytelling show with the #Storytime Band; and she works from a shed in her garden at her home in Yorkshire.

She also has a form of synaesthesia which enables her to smell colours. Red, she says, smells of chocolate.

Photo ©Frogspawn

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5

2,870 global ratings

5 star		52%
4 star		30%
3 star		13%
2 star		4%
1 star		2%

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Renai Brochard

Good but Hope There’s a sequel.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 29, 2022

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That’s it. Honestly, her earlier works were better. There was still some mystique, but it pales in comparison to earlier works like BlackBerry Wine and Jigs &Reels but too easily worked out.

One person found this helpful

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DebP McCabe

utterly brilliant!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 29, 2022

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Utterly brilliant! I would expect no less from Joann Harris particularly from this Oswald’s series. If you haven’t already, do go immediately and read the three books. You will not be disappointed!

3 people found this helpful

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Mar

Slow start

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 15, 2022

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Dull and slow to start. Picks up the pace about 40% in. Kept me guessing who done it till the end.

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Julie Baier

A pretty good mystery.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 19, 2022

This one kept me guessing right up until the end, thanks to unreliable narration. I didn’t enjoy it at first, but the characters developed and I became caught up in the plot.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 23, 2022

From the beginning you are not sure where the twisted turns will lead you...but lead you they will! One can not put it down until the last page.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 5, 2022

The narrators were on point! I didn’t realize this book was the third book in a series until I finished it, and I feel like you don’t need to read the first two to understand this one.

It did take me a little while to get into it but once I did I wanted to know what happened to Conrad (Rebecca’s brother who went missing when she was 5 years old).

This story goes back and forth from the past to the present and takes you for quite a ride feeling suspicious of various different characters

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"I have survived more setbacks than you can ever imagine."

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 27, 2022

"A Narrow Door," by Joanne Harris, is a tense thriller set in 2006, with flashbacks to 1989. As the recently appointed head of St. Oswald's, a hidebound grammar school, Rebecca Buckfast is eager to become a catalyst for innovation. However, St. Oswald's future may be imperiled after students find human remains at the construction site of a sports hall and swimming pool. The pupils report their discovery to Roy Straitley, an elderly classics teacher who has spent decades in St. Oswald's, first as a student and then as a faculty member. Straitley dislikes La Buckfast, as he sardonically thinks of her, for being his superior and, even more, for her determination to topple the traditions that he holds dear.

When Roy informs Rebecca about the body, she seems unsurprised. Rather than alerting the police immediately—which would ensure that the already scandal-rocked school would be harmed by additional negative publicity— Buckfast makes a deal with Straitley. She promises to tell him what led to the victim's demise if he agrees to reserve judgment until he hears her story. "A Narrow Door" is a complex novel with vivid characters, a menacing atmosphere, and passages of sardonic humor. We learn about Rebecca's older brother, Conrad, who vanished when he was fourteen; Rebecca and Conrad's inconsolable parents; and Rebecca herself, whose unreliable memories of past events torment her.

Buckfast and Straitley take turns narrating this tale of psychological suspense. Rebecca's and Roy's chapters are preceded by chess pieces—a queen for her and a king for him—symbolizing that we are witnessing a battle of wits between a pair of shrewd adversaries. Buckfast is obnoxious and self-centered, but some readers may sympathize with her struggle to succeed in a man's world by "playing the game." She pretends to be submissive while furtively hatching schemes that will get her what she wants. Harris's polished prose is beautifully descriptive and evocative, and her dialogue is mesmerizing. In addition, she demonstrates the ruinous consequences of such traits as arrogance, cruelty, and an inability to face reality. Ultimately, there are no winners here. Roy is too fond of St. Oswald's for his own good, and Rebecca is obsessed by the need to prove that she is worthy of respect. This menacing work of fiction surrenders its secrets slowly and tantalizingly, and the author wraps things up with a bitterly ironic conclusion.

One person found this helpful

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She Treads Softly

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 4, 2022

A Narrow Door by Joanne Harris is a highly recommended psychological thriller.

After 500 years times are changing for the Yorkshire's St. Oswald's school. Rebecca (Price) Buckfast is the new and first headmistress and the school is now admitting girls. Even though Rebecca is barely 40, she has worked hard to obtain the position and she is going to prove her worthiness to everyone via her own rules, especially long-time classics teacher Roy Straitley. However, when several of Straitley's former Latin students tell him that they have discovered what might be a body in a muddy sinkhole where new construction is about to begin, he takes the matter to Rebecca.

What follows after this initial discovery is an unfolding tale of Rebecca/Becky's past and the present. The narrative moves back and forth in time following alternating time lines from 1989 and 2006. In 1989 the plot follows Becky's time as a new teacher, her family life, and her memories of her older brother Conrad, who disappeared at age fourteen when Becky was just five. She recounts her story over the length of the novel to Straitley. Her story is alternated with excerpts from Straitley's 2006 diary.

The narrative starts out very slowly which may be off-putting for some readers. Rest assured that if you stick with it you will adjust to the deliberate pacing of the story and the suspense and sense of dread will begin to intensify. Rebecca intimates dark secrets and disturbing events several times, even while causally mentioning her own intractable reactions to some events. Although this is book three of a series, I found no real difficulties in reading it as a stand-alone novel. Rebecca is an interesting character. It will be quite clear that she will tell the truth, as she recalls it, but this won't necessarily always reflect virtuous behavior.

The writing is excellent. The time period of each chapter is clearly marked, so you can follow events between the two timelines and the different characters. The novel is complex, well plotted and, after the slow start, the pacing evens out until it picks up at the end and reveals several new facts. The tension and unease build throughout the novel, making it more compelling as the plot unfolds. The final denouement was very satisfying.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Pegasus Books.

3 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

MusicLover

Needs the backstory

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 19, 2021

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I have just started my second reading of this excellent story. When I first began to read, about a week ago, I quickly realised that I needed to go back to the previous instalment of this intriguing series: Different Class. I have enjoyed all the St Oswalds books but feel that they build one on another. Since it is five years since Different Class was published, readers may not be au fait with the essential background to A Narrow Door and its quirky characters. I now look forward to finding out what happened next to Straitley et al. (Having now reached the end of the story, I thought I would add a couple more points. The book is a mix of several genres. Its has elements of magic, as in Chocolat and Red Shoes, and of the earlier St Oswalds mysteries. I found the dual voices and timelines a little confusing, as were all the nicknames, and I missed Staightley's honesty and humour. There was rather a lot of la Buckfast, whose voice I found a little woke at times. The book seemed rather long to me and I would have liked an earlier denouement.)

26 people found this helpful

Pamela Scott

Gripping

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 23, 2021

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This is the fourth book set the fictional town of Malbry and the third set at St Oswald's, proceeded by Gentlemen and Players, Blueeyedboy and Different Class. I’ve read and loved the other books and was looking forward to seeing what happened at the grand old school next, what nastiness dwells in the dark corridors this time around. This time, the ancient tradition the school and the masters have kept close to their heart are in disarray because there’s a woman in charge and girls are allowed to attend for the first time. The St Oswald's of the previous books is being torn down brick by brick and shaped into something new. Rebecca’s plan are scuppered when a body is found on the grounds, linking the pain and secrets of her past with now and her worst memories resurface.

13 people found this helpful

Lizanne Lloyd

Fascinating account of a troubled woman

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 17, 2021

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It is 2006 and once again Roy Straitley, ageing classics master at St Oswald’s school, has to deal with major changes. He respects La Buckfast, as he calls her, but can’t stop himself calling her Headmaster. His “Brodie Boys” have moved up the school ladder but they still seek him out as their mentor. They have spotted something suspicious on the construction site of the new school building. Of course, Roy consults his Head before approaching the police, but this causes Rebecca Buckfast to begin telling him the story of her earlier life in small intriguing episodes.
Rebecca is an unreliable witness. She describes the mysterious disappearance from St Oswald’s of her 14-year-old brother, Conrad, when she was only 5. The frightening experience left her confused. What did she witness? As she describes her teaching career, fighting the prejudice against a woman in the nearby King Henry’s boys’ school, we can’t help admiring her, especially meeting resistance from her soon to be husband, Dominic, who would prefer her to teach with him at the local Comprehensive. We learn that Dominic also has secrets and despite his declining health, Roy Straitley looks forward to learning more.
The classical references to the rivers of the underworld in the book’s sections lead us towards Hades. Threads of deceit and confusion gradually reveal what happened all those years ago. Will the truth ever be revealed and how will the relationship between Roy and Rebecca develop? I found the epilogue particularly pleasing. Another masterpiece by Joanne Harris.

8 people found this helpful

Meeow

Impeccably written: just not my cuppa

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 25, 2022

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It's so important to recognise the difference between work that is well crafted ... and work that is not to personal taste. In my experience as a performer, audiences (worse, judges of all kinds!) mainly fail to do this.
A Narrow Door features an old fashioned school clinging to its past glories, with a woman head teacher who's had to fight every inch of her way to the top job. Her sad past and that of colleagues, plus some nasty secrets, make a lethal combination.
As you'd expect from Joanne Harris at this point, the writing is impeccable and the plot twists tighter and tighter. It's not just scholarly sniping in the staff room, oh dear me no... Having attended one of the last grammar schools in the 1970s, I recognised much of the setting and the teacherly mannerisms. I guess they persist in certain educational backwaters even now.
Unfortunately I didn't want to read about school miseries, or child endangerment, and I couldn't warm to the anti hero at all. It's a tribute to the crisp efficiency of this book's style that I finished it. Verdict: not my favourite subject but very well handled by Joanne Harris.

5 people found this helpful

Dave

alea iacta est

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 16, 2021

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This last, darkest and most considered episode of the St. Oswald’s trilogy is also by far my favourite.
I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler to reveal that in this volume we find dear old Mr. Straitley’s star fading fast, from the beginning you feel that he is soon to be incorporated into the fabric of the building, from where he may continue to add the odd ghostly tang of an illicit gaulois to the pervasive aroma of mice, chalk dust and biscuity testosterone that has always haunted his beloved bell tower.
No, the “action” (such as it is) is dominated by la Buckfast, a sneaky, unreliable and all the more scary for being wounded, villain. Incapable of the tenderer human emotions, driven almost entirely by ambition and revenge she is a disturbingly convincing character, yet written with such clear cut sympathy and understanding!
Put yourself in my position, an aging alumnus of an old fashioned boy’s grammar school, an obvious beneficiary of all “the patriarchy” has to offer. Would I accept a hot beverage offered by Joanne Harris? ………… I’d think twice about it. Buckfast is so real that one really does question whether she could be entirely invented. A true Moriarty to set off Straitley's Holmes.

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