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Joanne Harris

Different Class Kindle Edition

by Joanne Harris (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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The gripping psychological thriller from Joanne Harris, to follow her bestselling Gentlemen & Players and Blueeyedboy. Perfect for fans of Claire Mackintosh, BA Paris, Paula Hawkins and Tracy Chevalier.

'Crime novel or literary novel? Categories really don't matter; readers will find themselves comprehensively gripped.' Independent
'A cracking psychological thriller' Good Housekeeping

After thirty years at St Oswald's Grammar in North Yorkshire, Latin master Roy Straitley has seen all kinds of boys come and go - the clowns, the rebels, the underdogs, and those he calls his Brodie boys. But every so often there's a boy who doesn't fit the mould. A troublemaker. A boy capable of twisting everything around him. A boy with hidden shadows inside.

With insolvency and academic failure looming, a new broom has arrived at the venerable school, bringing Powerpoint, sharp suits and even sixth form girls to the dusty corridors. But while Straitley does his sardonic best to resist this march to the future, a shadow from his past is stirring. A boy who even twenty years on haunts his teacher's dreams. A boy capable of bad things.

The third in the Malbry Cycle of gripping psychological thrillers - the latest of which is A Narrow Door.

Print length

479 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Transworld Digital
Publication date

21 April 2016
File size

8552 KB
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Review

A magnificently plotted and twisty journey to the heart of a 24-year-old crime...darkly humorous...constantly wrongfoots and misdirects...up to a satisfyingly eccentric conclusion. ― Observer

Slowly, Harris reveals tiny clues, withholding full explanations until the startling denouement. Classy writing, sensitive and moving. ― The Times

Harris pulls off an impeccable thriller denouement...consistently entertaining. -- John Dugdale ― Sunday Times

It's Goodbye, Mr Chips meets The Bad Seed. Joanne Harris' latest has a killer elevator pitch and, what's more, it delivers on its intriguing premise...a rich, dramatic tale that builds to a surprising conclusion. ― Washington Post

A masterpiece of misdirection. -- Val McDermid --This text refers to the mass_market edition.

Book Description

The new novel from the impressively versatile Joanne Harris in her psychological thriller mode, at her darkest and most unsettling. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

From the Inside Flap

Fun Facts About Murder: Use Coca-Cola to clean up blood spills. The combination of ascorbic acid and carbonated water actually digests the blood, leaving no trace of evidence.

After thirty years at St Oswald’s Grammar in North Yorkshire, Latin master Roy Straitley has seen all kinds of boys come and go. Each class has its clowns, its rebels, its underdogs, its ‘Brodie’ boys, who, whilst of course he doesn’t have favourites, hold a special place in an old teacher’s heart. But every so often there’s a boy who doesn’t fit the mould. A troublemaker. A boy capable of twisting everything around him. A boy with hidden shadows inside.

With insolvency and academic failure looming, a new broom has arrived at the venerable school, bringing PowerPoint, sharp suits and even sixth-form girls to the dusty corridors. But while Straitley does his sardonic best to resist this march to the future, a shadow from his past is stirring. A boy who, even twenty years on, haunts his teacher’s dreams. A boy capable of bad things.

Set in Malbry, the same Yorkshire village as Gentlemen & Players and Blueeyedboy, Different Class shows Joanne Harris at her darkest and most unsettling, and confirms this impressively versatile writer’s mastery of the psychological thriller genre. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

From the Back Cover

'Not just witty and often hilarious but compellingly suspenseful, Different Class is both a splendidly dark comedy and a disturbing thriller...an absolute delight.' Ramsey Campbell

GENTLEMEN & PLAYERS:

‘A delicious black comedy . . . the plot is so cleverly constructed, the tension so unflagging, you’d think she’d been writing thrillers all her life.’ Daily Mail

‘A terrific and absorbing suspense novel, with a cast of characters you come to really care about and enough twists and turns to keep you on your toes.’ Peter Robinson

‘A gripping psychological thriller . . . Harris is one of our most accomplished novelists and Gentlemen & Players, with its pace, wit and acute observation, shows her at the top of her form.’ Daily Express

‘[A] clever story of obsession and revenge . . . another success.’ Sunday Telegraph

BLUEEYEDBOY:

‘Delivers an almighty twist in the tale . . . heartbreaking.’ The Times

‘An ingenious, gripping read . . . it terrified the living daylights out of me.’
Daily Express

‘Brilliantly written . . . beware unreliable narrators along with a huge plot twist at the end.’ Mirror --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

About the Author

Joanne Harris's Whitbread-shortlisted Chocolat was made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. She is the author of many other bestselling novels, including Lollipop Shoes, Peaches for Monsieur le Curé, and The Strawberry Thief, all also featuring Vianne Rocher. She has also written acclaimed novels in such diverse genres as fantasy based on Norse myth (Runemarks, Runelight, The Gospel of Loki), and the Malbry cycle of dark psychological thrillers (Gentlemen & Players, Blueeyedboy, and Different Class).

Born in Barnsley, of an English father and a French mother, she spent fifteen years as a teacher before (somewhat reluctantly) becoming a full-time writer. In 2013, she was awarded an MBE. She lives in Yorkshire, plays bass and flute in a band first formed when she was sixteen, and works in a shed in her garden.

--This text refers to the mass_market edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B018X1L38A
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Transworld Digital; 1st edition (21 April 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 8552 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 479 pages

Best Sellers Rank: 165,267 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
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- 460 in Dark Humour

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1,028 ratings

About the author

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Joanne Harris

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Joanne Harris is the internationally renowned and award-winning author of eighteen novels, plus novellas, scripts, short stories, libretti, lyrics, articles, and most recently, 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 Chair of the Society of Authors.

Her hobbies are listed in Who's Who as 'mooching, lounging, strutting, strumming, priest-baiting and quiet subversion'. She is active on Twitter, where she writes stories and gives writing tips as @joannechocolat; she posts weekly 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.

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2 star		3%
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Top review from Australia

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carol cosham

Simply superb

Reviewed in Australia on 10 September 2017

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Joanne, you are the most brilliant storyteller. Firstly, your use of language... you have no equal! I absolutely love the cultured, British educated accent throughout this delightfully disturbing book. And of course, Straitley's quick humour, with his unshakable belief in "his boys" and his unquestioning faith in the certainty that armed with a love of, and indeed an understanding of the value of the Classics, each of those boys will handle whatever life throws at them in their futures post-St Oswalds.
And oh....the underlying menace, the dark characters, the secrets, the topical subjects, all contribute to make this book so bloody good.
Straitley would have to be one of my favourite protagonists ever!
Please, please Ms Harris can we have just one more magnificent story of St Oswalds before these old Masters are put out to pasture!

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Top reviews from other countries

Kindle Customer

Good plot but a book that is empty at its core

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 July 2018

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This is a well paced crime novel set in a grammar school and it was gripping in the sense you wanted to know who did what. But at its core, the book lacks any ethical or moral viewpoint and is empty. The key good guy, the Latin teacher, appears not to care that a child abuser and murderers are not exposed and punished. All the characters are selfish and cynical and worse. Very disappointing from a writer who previously worked as a teacher. As a former teacher and education advisor, I was unimpressed by the stereotypes used and the moral void at the heart of the book.

23 people found this helpful

Kym Hamer

Enjoyable read with a great twist

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 September 2017

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In Different Class, we are returned to Harris' St Oswald's Grammar School (the setting for her earlier novel, Gentlemen & Players) for a story told across two time periods from two different points of view - that of 60-something year old Classics Master Roy Straitley, and a student who records his most secret thoughts in his letters to Mousey and remains unnamed for a large part of the book. Just when I thought I had figured out who this penman was, Harris introduced the twist and the real story behind the past scandal at the school unfolds. It's a slightly too-tidy ending for my liking but I still really enjoyed it. If you enjoyed Harris' Gentlemen & Players, I think you'll like this one too.

20 people found this helpful

dot dot dot

A great story but a bit of a retread

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 September 2018

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By complete lack of organisation, I read this book first. I think it's the third novel set in the same school and featuring much the same cast of characters (I then went on to read 'gentlemen and players' after this book). The reason I mention this is because it has the exact same plot twist as Gentlemen and Players, so if you've been sensible and read the books in order, you may not be quite as engrossed as I was, and possibly alert to the plot twist.

The book itself is set in a rather old-fashioned British private school - it just about fits into the world of the 2010's, but it's a tight squeeze. The main character, is a fabulously old, grumpy and self-deluded master at the school, and for some reason I kept hearing Stephen Fry's voice as Professor Donald Trefusis while I read the book. It's mostly written in the first person from the point of view of several characters and the plot twist towards the end leads you completely astray. To say more would be to tell too much about what happens.

I loved this book and because it's a deep read, it's on my re-read list to catch up on all the plot points that I missed on first reading. Anyone looking for a really great whodunnit read is in for a treat.

3 people found this helpful

S Riaz

Different Class

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 July 2021

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This book is sent shortly after, "Gentlemen and Players," and again revolves around St Oswald's, with both Mr Straitley, curmudgeonly Latin master, and a former pupil, known as Ziggy, narrating events - both in the present timeline and the past, during the early 1980's.

This is a dark and disturbing novel, with St Oswald's again plunged into crisis. After the events in the previous novel, St Oswald's, beset by rumour and scandal, has been given a new Head. This turns out to be Johnny Harrington, a boy that Straitley recalls with discomfort. Harrington, and two other new boys, were involved in a scandal at the school; resulting in the downfall of a schoolmaster, who was Straitley's friend and Straitley is always loyal - to his friends, to his boys and, most of all, to St Oswald's itself.

As always, Straitley is a Classicist in a modern world, fighting against change. In this novel it is the removal of the Honours Boards, pigeon holes removed in favour of 'email,' rebranding, refurbishment, the horror of Sixth Form girls, and the threat of retirement. As Straitley digs his heels in, we read Ziggy's diary and of past events which will effect the present. I found this a little slower than the first St Oswald's novel but look forward to reading the next book set in the school, "A Narrow Door."

One person found this helpful

Mrs. S. Doyle

Amazing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 March 2021

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I don’t know how to review such an amazing book, I don’t have words for how enjoyable and intricate the story is. Almost at the end I suddenly realised that my whole perspective had been wrong, and I sat staring at the page, unsure whether to begin again from the beginning. Bamboozled in the way Agatha Christie would have done, I continued with the new perspective only to find, a few pages from the end the rug was pulled out from under my belief again. An absolute triumph of a book. I love Joanne Harris

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