Name: The Headmaster's Wife
ISBN: 9781250038944

Thomas Christopher Greene

Found mentally altered in Central Park, the headmaster of an elite boarding school imparts a story that is shaped by complicated memories, the evolution of a loving relationship and a tragedy he cannot comprehend. By the award-winning author of Envious Moon. 75,000 first printing.

The Headmaster's Wife

Jess

Read this review on my blog! --&gt; <a href="http://gonewiththewords.com/2014/03/review-the-headmasters-wife-by-thomas-christopher-greene.html" rel="nofollow noopener">Review: The Headmaster's Wife by Thomas Christopher Greene</a> At the beginning of The Headmaster’s Wife, I was instantly hooked by the engrossing writing and the situation we find Arthur, the Headmaster, in. He then begins recanting the story of how exactly he ended up where he is. At least, we’re led to believed that’s the story. The story is broken up into three parts of which the first is all narrated by the Headmaster. I will warn you now that it might put you off, but I promise it will all be clear in the end. The twists this story takes are all so well done. The writing continues being engrossing throughout the whole book. This story about love, loss, death, and grief was so compelling. Once I sat down to read it, I did not put it down and finished it in one day. Fans of adult literature with some mystery should definitely give this book a chance. It would also make a great book club read. I look forward to reading more of Thomas Christopher Greene’s books if they’re all written this well.

Dorian Avers

I would've given this 2 stars (I changed my mind after ranting in the review) if there wasn't a decent twist. The whole first part of this book made me feel uncomfortable and creeped out. Not like "this mystery is unsettling", more of "this feels like another Lolita". There will be spoilers! 
 The first half of this novel is told from the headmaster's point of view and it is about his love for a student named Betsy. He grows attached to her, takes her off campus, aggressively kisses her without consent, and then harasses her and her new boyfriend. He ruined a boys education because of his lust for Betsy. In the beginning I thought he was targeting her because she was a scholarship student and probably wouldn't have been believed if she came forward, let alone had the resources to pursue him legally. 
 The second part of the novel is us finding out that the headmaster is actually remembering his boarding school days with the woman that would become his wife. There's a lot to be uneasy about and a lot to be confused about because what the headmaster did in his teen years was still fucked up. He was privileged and he targeted two students that had less than him. They stated that Betsy was 18 in the first part, so it wouldn't be too icky, but the headmaster is still in a position of power and he kind of was in boarding school as well. However, when they were really in school Betsy was 16 when they met. Also, there's a bit about how he's trying to touch her and she was "squirming around like a rabbit, bit he wasn't forcing her", this is paraphrased, but it's just gross.
 A novel can still be great even if it is carried by unlikeable and loathesome characters, I do believe this. However, if the novel isn't great and it doesn't feel like the author is opposed to the bad bits then, I'm not about it. Also if he justifies poor behaviors through other characters point of view and there is not a single person that goes, "that was not okay" and sticks to that opinion then I have a problem.

Quotes:
* "My son, by virtue of his birth mainly, had every opportunity. He did not need to become me, though it is a good life. But it was there for him, and it was not a question he had to answer until he was older. He chose to answer it when he did..." (108)
* "The past is everything now, and she understands that this is what it means to be dying: You stop looking forward, instead living for moments that happened years before" (164)

THE NUMBER ONE KINDLE BESTSELLER Arthur Winthrop is a middle-aged headmaster at an elite prep school in Vermont. When he is arrested for an act that is incredibly out of character, the strait-laced, married headmaster confesses to a much more serious crime. Arthur reveals that he has had a passionate affair with a scholarship student called Betsy Pappas. But Betsy is a fickle and precocious teenager. When she switches her attentions to a classmate, Arthur's passion for Betsy turns, by degrees, into something far darker. Now Arthur must tell the truth about what happened to Betsy. But can Arthur's version of events be trusted - or is the reality much more complex and unnerving? The Headmaster's Wife is a dark, sinuous and compelling novel about marriage and obsessive love.

The Headmaster's Wife

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