Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

A Terrible Beauty: A Romance
A Terrible Beauty: A Romance
A Terrible Beauty: A Romance
Ebook253 pages4 hours

A Terrible Beauty: A Romance

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

Read preview

About this ebook

After suffering the greatest of personal Tragedies, Dai O’Connel is no longer willing to lie. A headstrong Welshman twenty years in an Oregon classroom, he refuses either to lower standards or to implement the feel-good nonsense of Outcome Based Curriculum, and as a result is targeted for dismissal. Sent to document his failings is Solange Gonsalvás, Oregon’s youngest assistant superintendent. Known both for breathtaking attractiveness and her dedication to the job, she is relentless in pursuit of incompetent teachers. Deeply believing she can make the district’s schools better, while struggling with her own concept of what school should be, Solange finds O’Connel not at all as she expected. Principled, confident, very good at what he does, Dai is not the kind of teacher Solange forces from the classroom—but more than competence is at stake. District politicos demand O'Connel's ouster, and if Solange wants the top job, she must take his. Bewildered by the intense attraction she feels for the man, Solange must choose between ruining an outstanding teacher's career and furthering her own, a career for which she's sacrificed everything.

“St.John takes critical aim at all the teaching theories and experiments that school districts churn out on a regular basis, which totally ignore the abysmal track record of earlier programs and the basic needs of its students. This novel is an inside view of the anger and frustrations felt by teachers in failing school systems.” Booklist

“Descriptions of classroom conflicts, successes, frustrations will touch readers to the core. The teacher and student among you will cheer out loud as this novel progresses...” National Public Radio

LanguageEnglish
Release dateDec 29, 2009
ISBN9781452385181
A Terrible Beauty: A Romance
Author

D. W. St.John

Here is where a writer is supposed to tell you all about the exciting things he's done. How he's wrestled crocodiles in Tanzania, bounced drunks in an Amsterdam brothel, smuggled guns to Cuba and sat in as drummer for the Who in Tokyo. Well, I've never done any of that, but hey, nobody's perfect.My life is much like yours. I'm just another soul shoe horned into a meat puppet biding my time until I return to the one.These stories are just dreams I lived. If I've done my job even passably well, then you may live them, too.

Read more from D. W. St.John

Related to A Terrible Beauty

Related ebooks

Romance For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for A Terrible Beauty

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5

1 rating0 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

    Book preview

    A Terrible Beauty - D. W. St.John

    wcbook_preview_excerpt.html}\˒FΥ=D#HY YU]*#t7SK#@:H#MCob,yVR}wtS>wmϗ0%4;Urp 1t5.7!wFv8fUO>6i<<Ç /}~SWBwU|nh}zCb81]Cp]xx=鼀:zYCj=eXM7؅X14a.ظK"&tClF =i~ mHl0Mu'=4TeBjqBv10/"nMN6Cg6a8q>È60ԚcqZnaΘohVzXߪ})ia@W޽U߼o޼ٟ?/;2 X2D؁X,2vΗpiɫpXE6c|mk f73_xW ,m_*T{\>!Cuhbw8NLS-x"3ろ;W[5z5Wg|W9U cj`Ly?t]H\3t0Չu1~s Lˆ<]r`u Dp eb}ƅ8pP=x^;⇆CƠyhn`4UnD$eS &!(b=WzQg; V򒰷C08h>a?C >C2}<=LSӞ(D#[[ÃRu}]egYwDF@Bx1;~fn:ޅ* ~{ij)u[ZfX'`dLflM+v_]rhb%cWXq+`ZƗ5wC!0X<~{cMu~+"d BUY$KS -Ů\|T~|ڸߛ1\c0FZ* 3akof rT@E4JdB#ş `8n0  Keܭ0B#*u0\Ds 5\O4f]^ c1 xNx8&~cbOZ =J^^zu Hžu"0e2ٵyo Nx%?|#ET(y[]4۳۽f>d3P@#&r'%#ԹC A(Nfӝa 8ˌ5Yºfm3 tW N848_Cs3ўL"w-z&:&ՒpY֢?S 1xh#[jC2KPƹ^h9'Qf'AȂţ@Q-W?pr%"ϓZ8(?~f`AӺ5c5c[>M4*lc AG"r➄Y 9-lZv)[笛|%^aNkq=OrM䪰GNÈ$`a4E (+ܰs^!I^Z,6B2EbDWB t0!Je^t_?h~Ft!9Nq!eةqbJi>-8vXW,#8 3ZKM̜gcGh#2(^gWwabg ]7kg0\w 'Q1 yv˘5FGs6淶) 52=C}09cmpπaR4]e1} {i39 :,\PȏWpfGE@\:ê<^~./s!-z 1I 8GaCtrܔQH^&H7(sE6gc(oÙ!* k\1`ׯ$HlD *u&(3SdSׇ4 36b͍ؐMg%0sLʜgs<*2QH{F&AQH% sgrleh5)&zI?+(Iޭ`I'l:G*=0'pB DnZB TΣot6:Ӛl^GEh$Wv7vԐ蠁 ;}x.a*4ZWlcߵNYA.q(z'Dt$i5M_eʲT %rHCW1noH򚒴}s_kqS@3XFޕ]<"c>Hƅp4!}3{+\GnjY d+wʖYKR(a}>aoB2ϥ#\0b x!ʧpI`!n}bT,Hj _c)_}& ̫NKmN;JD<*Ո}ԪAsPC)!qy BG<+>UgeWb㙤0v|TqFPR<-X4x b{((*=1:b&9>6Gs# _0n@ʽ70iE㣱mM<ل4 l yTިV܄gcZ*|ͷ~ F_oCļS*+%2z8 PShø|TG;AR5H:4 kJVڞfxo&z/!buv?,Vjk;o`vuZ%RVWƕ!1ƭp2yaKZW`W,M,i)_%6hqjnEfJS=ZK uK!4x1i6n8zںp)J>M˂ʒ rݡ wIfˁMؖ6`.$xsn}:7H#opb 4E|N`S[Yx4 33ib=Ppnbt( ؓv.@qbc (`6NJso7`0|X֔FU= kDKLi$MY >75T0%[h/Yi'gVrY$tL%z! BoLqϿ3v_x\[)8+dmvr&HaVԐlvFp$ّ6JGkW-n1Fk u0Hr~+>~!%/jFM pC )E=5_RWB3BRkiFTɥ9&:\WɺM+ NQrIraoJLVUz]UT6 l V1]dX)IK8F."MP6vW B>Et,k*ZF䂦 9V1u#V&1ֲ':Cv|E{$wOK}Ryxb7{fxȧ.UT;Uʬ<@JIc^|t [|\\T{*qbl WHwoنA3Pʹ%hk3>zMl=-=X+ ]Fu7hQs3'f->9GrKC:#FaW5|(Fu෪mm?hz虩>~-K]!A͟cgQ\A^Sֵ`X9jiWk¸:Ay`45li2 i?2Zhf=_S^586*gHBiIby"z+5qR2[uƤeYxz祅uFqB=kEx*-A+_lڬփWHa^El&Gy/{ h19[Nx2$pT0[O5/JAf34^㽦yF)9)r}{x?17)W#2Ø>Ml>⥘T|W57ͷ4[$6]b95LZT}˭x[m-jzZEw/ƒY3jS~NLx 0DVB-NS5o}NC;T^^`4y? h*{2ZĞ 0/ IYټT5@"2 !0j\O*) ثbǓ6~ZpE,ö yF9ErX HZc:əReV[s?$Jwja;8T 'n]Wi-9m$8}]V!][vEڜgIb6A-ty=k$X]֑cAp`ϙ6ΓZd?ay+p'^QStV*,/C6w*SI9nx>J=\$Y8ȇU9[(mͨ5+ʣk˞+)U1,4iE|ܬ\J$xxFCq_wv[`J H;T  r vH7sRCh0zsoAG0U=ɡTqpFn~>NN1e)Kaȝu0[=h)apHVMīJKcׂ̅rQ9pt]Rr&Ȼ TVD`lGWi|ꆋQ*O7/~cPr~Gc +gy)²ASڴi rשjn)o-7=$q2lO$u v5go<#<#HIEҋye'FfĬ\q O'mwۓ62SE,*E~ sRj:i'6){TLQ ׹]`kt!Z^[BJIW&wx%2b,N#VHgs~V"+F. Tڭɸ-. Dr 4Ws /<6j|[ܣE5>o :/h7rw^2NL2K:u"FUQ%XX&+ſp}+wbEoWCS8J$E܉#FOnI ^ }QG%ؗȉ*ö́u )SBT~czr<3afN [ ^p5Neux2O-ȡP720ޗ1VtXMT)D!-i樂?k ߿Xfcc)I`z꣪A6R4Rf-_Z+MsؿҦFɲF*YIfi3?rP .4<^W*_E)oՋnZU/Qщ-I{cknm-\<soK U_h$ |ƶh"&M=K'ey=dLg˩0BLĽ(%t'5FR dPֆD8;\#p@N#} HG^Pq76X_s4n-'Mԋ.>Jnm?]mnms֫ {YW9xxSb+0kڞ%]~awxǧϟ?[qqk3\rkZSn;-y&S|{ʼgLO
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1