An Unclean Place

by Barbara Barrow

Dawn and her best friend Amber are students at Stillwater School, an experimental academy that’s the laughingstock of Atlanta. When Ms. Ella arrives to teach the eighth grade, she shakes up the school with her radical ideas and violent discipline, building an enthusiastic following and even winning the loyalty of rebellious Dawn. 

The imprint she leaves on her students is both profound and damaging, long after scandal shuts down the school and leads to Ms. Ella’s arrest. Dawn pursues a destructive path into Ms. Ella’s family, while Amber embraces a solitary, bookish life. Years later, after Dawn’s mysterious death, Amber sets off to find her estranged former teacher. In the process, she uncovers a shocking story of narcissism, art, betrayal, and murder.

Genres: Adult

308 pages, Paperback

First published May 16, 2023

Reviews

[Yahaira · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

I read this weirdo little book in one day because I NEEDED to know what was happening. I feel you need to go in blind and any reaction I write would be some sort of spoiler. Let’s just say this was part of my ‘there’s something wrong with teacher’ tbr and it’s scary how right I was.

This is a book about narcissism, obsession, control, mental health, and murder! There’s a bit of 90’s nostalgia for the younger gen xers as the book starts at an alternative school when the characters are in eighth grade. A new teacher takes over their class and she wants to make changes to their education and discipline (she’s kind of obsessed with this really). This part is written in a collective pov. Twenty years later one of the students commits suicide but they don’t know why. Here we break away from the collective and deep dive into Dawn’s life and Amber tries to figure out her death. I swear that with 50 pages left I was still screaming “what is happening?!”.

I need you all to read this so I have someone to talk about it.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

At an independent alternative school in Atlanta, Ms. Ella swirls into Dawn and Amber’s lives. She’s a demanding teacher, different than anyone they’ve ever met. She expands their horizons, suffering no fools and no excuses. She’s in many ways a groundbreaking teacher, but her hubris and certainty causes her push too far. The story continues with the intertwined lives of Dawn, Amber, and Ms Ella as the girls age to adulthood and the world shifts around them, all still bound by the incidents of their middle school classroom.

Barrow’s writing is delicate and flowing, her teenagers keenly observed. She creates a subtle tension between the truly exciting parts of Ms Ella’s personality and her darker impulses. Just like Ms Ella, Barrow holds nothing back, and the book sweeps through time and across characters. It’s a thoughtful examination of the way people, theories, ideas, and places change both slowly and quickly over a lifetime.

[ReadingwhileWalking · Rating 5 out of 5]

This perfectly-paced psychological thriller grips from the very first line:

'The police came for Ms. Ella, our eighth-grade teacher, in the middle of Bryce's report on Franklin Delano Roosevelt.'

About a troubled but talented teacher and her long-term effects on her pupils, the narrative begins with a collective recounting of the lead-up to the arrest, focussing mainly on quiet Amber (later a rare book seller) and rebellious Dawn.
But as the incipit promises, Barrow's book is far more than than a standard genre mystery, with fully realised characters and a plot that, despite its reader-tripping twists, never feels forced. The language is crisp and literary -- punctuated by gorgeous descriptions of the seasons ('We heard branches cracking and splitting in the woods, looked out at the birdless sky'). Time zips along with the changes in nature and the descriptions are always apt. Those cracking branches, for instance, add to the sense of menace that hangs constantly in the air. The novel explores some important themes too: public versus private education; the role of punishment and discipline; the nurturing of individual talent vs one-size-fits-all; and the contemporary relevance of Greek myths. Reminiscent, at times, of both Stephen King and Anne Tyler, Barrow is definitely an author to watch.

[Olga Zilberbourg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel captivated me from the first page by the way it employed the plural first person "we" narrative voice to launch into the story of a creepy middle school teacher and the way she abuses power with her students. It gives the creepy teacher far greater moral complexity than most novels dare to, and the student who becomes the primary victim has far more agency than most novelists ever allow victims. This narrative voice only stays with us for the first third of the novel, after which the perspective shifts -- settles with one, then another student, and moves decades through time. In all of these perspective shifts it didn't lose momentum for me, but instead planted its mysteries and allowed me to understand the psychology of the people at the same time as I solved the mystery at its center. So well done!

[Alicia J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set against the landscape and politics of 1990s Atlanta and Florida, An Unclean Place features a premise and circumstances that evoke a tantalising and disturbing contemporary noir world. Through writing that is both sharp and swift, Barrow excavates characters that prove chilling as she renders effectively the phenomenal costs of narcissism and the darker sides of human nature. Barrow’s skilful use of imagery and the novel’s complex web of secrets and lies will remain in you long after you have finished this book.

- Alicia J Rouverol, Dry River and “I Was Content and Not Content’’: The Story of Linda Lord and the Closing of Penobscot Poultry

[Yume Kitasei · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of being an early beta reader for this book: it's a tense novel about art, narcissism, obsession, and the strength of female friendship.

AN UNCLEAN PLACE centers around Dawn and Amber, grade school friends now adults. As a teenager, Dawn fell under the spell of their charismatic eight grade teacher, Ms. Ella, and dropped out of school to marry her son. Now Dawn is dead, and Amber sets out to figure out what happened.

It's a beautifully written mystery, but it's also a hair-raising, twisty, psychology tale. Barbara Barrow is a brilliant writer! Highly recommend.

[Fiona McPhillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was sucked into this book from the start and utterly engrossed in all the characters. There are so many layers to all of them and even when they assume the roles of perpetrator and victim, nothing is black and white. The writing is so thoughtful, each moment captured in such tiny, beautiful detail that I kept a close eye in case I missed any of it. An Unclean Place is a propulsive psychological thriller but it is also so much more than that.

[Damyanti Biswas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read The Quelling by Barrow, I had high expectations of The Unclean Place, and this novel exceeds every one of them. Barrow marries the rules of genre with a very literary sensibility, and the result is weird, powerful, and though-provoking in the most wonderful way.

Five highly-deserved stars. Get it now.

[Ela · Rating 3 out of 5]

The characterisation is really really good.
I just wish ... a certain thing didn't happen

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Unclean Place is a riveting novel, steeped in Greek mythology and American history and literature. And Barrow's evocation of being an adolescent in the 1990s is perfect.

[Yosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Unclean Place by Barbara Barrow is a highly compelling psychological thriller. Her literary writing and storytelling chops together makes this book a pleasure to sit down with and be taken for a ride. It will stays with you long afterward you finish it. I recommend everyone to give it a try—you won’t regret it.

[Anca · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Unclean Place is dark, smart, and compulsively readable. I loved the story’s unexpected twists and turns and the way Barrow conjures high stakes drama.