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Synopsis
“A bold and powerfully written tale.” — David Almond A fifteen year old girl has a crush on her young English teacher. During a production of 'Romeo and Juliet', Rachel and Mike begin a sexual relationship. They think they're in love, but they're really in trouble. The star-crossed lovers are always afraid of discovery as a school-girl fantasy turns into an X-rated nightmare. Love Lessons was the first novel for young adults, to address the sensitive issue of pupil/teacher relationships. A gripping novel about one of the last great taboos: a teacher-pupil relationship “A brave novel…a thoughtful study of young love.” — Books for Keeps
I was soon swept along by the intense emotional drama and tension of David Belbin’s latest novel, Love Lessons. A indisputable page turner, its fast-paced narrative evokes the rash instigation of the pupil and teacher affair, while the literary backdrop of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet not only signals the relationship’s inevitable downfall, but cleverly challenges the reader’s moral stance towards the controversial relationship. Are we to sympathise wholeheartedly with the young lovers, as in Shakespeare’s tragedy? Mike and Rachel, in a contemporary development of their romanticised Shakespearean counterparts, live to look back upon their passionate relationship, and hence, any simplified view of their ‘love’ is shattered. I was surprised by the depth of their ‘lessons’: the maturity, in particular, of Rachel’s philosophical reflections upon the nature of ‘love’, and subsequent value of friendship, in the novel’s final chapters. This ‘young adult’ fiction is unexpectedly mature in its concluding reflections, and offers valuable ‘lessons’ for adults of all ages.
Amy Routledge
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