Sarah's Reviews > The Good Teacher

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Petronella McGovern's latest offering (published 1 September 2020), The Good Teacher. This was an engrossing read with great character development and plenty of surprises.
49-year-old Allison Walsh is a dedicated and much-loved kindergarten teacher and a respected member of her community of Wirriga, in Sydney's northern beaches. Until recently, she'd also considered herself to be happily married to solicitor Tony, with whom she's approaching her silver (25th) anniversary, and attentive mum to teenager Felix. That was until Tony announced on New Year's Eve that he'd met someone else and wanted to leave their marriage. Since he's moved in with his new girlfriend, about whose identity he's curiously secretive, Felix has been unwilling to spend much time at home with Allison, preferring to live with his father, who's now within walking distance of the local surf beach. This has left Allison feeling understandably shell-shocked and isolated, as her comfortable life has been completely turned upside down. She's started covertly watching Tony's new home from her car, hoping to catch a glimpse of his new partner, but also risking falling foul of NSW's anti-stalking laws.
When a new student starts in Allison's kindergarten class, she finds an opportunity to distract herself from her own problems by becoming involved in theirs. Luke Branson is recently widowed and his four-year-old daughter Gracie is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for a rare form of cancer. Within weeks, Allison has invited them to move into her family home -thereby temporarily thwarting Tony's efforts to force her to sell - and is spearheading a local fundraising campaign to raise the funds needed to enable Gracie to undergo experimental immunotherapy treatment in the USA - treatment that could be her last hope to survive her illness.
It's difficult to further describe the plot without verging into spoiler territory, but this book fits well into the suspense-thriller genre.
The story unfolds from three main perspectives - Allison's, Luke's and that of Maz (Marilyn), a effervescent young instructor at the Wirriga gym where Luke's been offered casual employment. Occasional chapters are also told from the perspectives of Allison's estranged husband, Tony, and her son, Felix. The themes that emerge are of kindness, community, family, friendship, trust and betrayal. The characters who make up the cast of the book and their interrelationships are sensitively and enthrallingly developed. As a female reader in her 40's, I predictably identified most with the character of Allison and felt her desolation and sense of dislocation at the unexpected end of her marriage were handled masterfully by the author. Maz at first appears a somewhat ditsy and self-centred young woman in the well-worn millennial mould. However, in McGovern's hands, she is developed into a sympathetic and multi-dimensional character who is faced with some pretty tough life lessons over the course of the book.
The Good Teacher is a strong character-driven drama with a complex and intriguing plot and plenty of surprises for the reader. It's a cautionary tale for the modern age, which leaves an enduring message of the power and importance of kindness and human relationships.
Very highly recommended for readers who enjoy contemporary suspense and thriller literature, and also afficionados of quality women's literature in the vein of Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies and The Husband's Secret - Moriarty's readers will find the Northern Beaches setting of The Good Teacher familiar.
My thanks to the author and publisher, Allen & Unwin Australia, for the opportunity to read and review an uncorrected proof of this title in the lead-up to its publication.