The Learning Curve: Sometimes we've all got a bit of learning to do...

by Melissa Nathan

From the bestselling author of The Nanny , comes this captivating new novel about a teacher who is idolized by her class, particularly ten-year-old Oscar. Oscar’s father is a frazzled single-parent workaholic who resents any interference from his son’s teacher.

Genres: Chick Lit, Romance, Fiction, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Adult, British Literature

452 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Melissa Jane Nathan (13 June 1968 – 7 April 2006) was a journalist and UK author of popular "chick lit" novels in the early 2000s.
When working on Persuading Annie (2001), Nathan was diagnosed with breast cancer. She refused to let the illness dominate her life, and - in public anyway - was unfailingly positive. She had no time for most journalism written by cancer sufferers: "self-indulgent dirges without a helpline in sight", as she described them; she tried to joke about cancer's unoriginality in her Jewish Chronicle column and then added:
That was what you call laughing in adversity. It's what makes people smile mistily at me, as if I'm fading in front of their very eyes while telling knock-knock jokes. What they don't know is that I have daydreams about being the oldest person at their funeral.
Ironically, the characters in Nathan's first book, 'Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field', were starring in a play version of Pride & Prejudice that benefitted breast cancer research. The book was written prior to Nathan knowing about her own future diagnosis with the disease.
She died aged 37 from breast cancer in April 2006. She is survived by her husband, Andrew Saffron, and their son, Sam.
Her final novel, The Learning Curve, was published posthumously in August 2006. A writing award has been established to recognize quality comedy romance writers in her honor.

Reviews

[Namratha · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Learning Curve is late author Melissa Nathan’s final book. And being maudlin wasn’t her style. The book is vibrant, deals with a contemporary issue, has a teensy-tiny feminist touch, is choc-a-bloc with colourful characters and leaves you with a smile on your face.

Nicky Hobbs is a thirty-year old, much-loved school teacher in a primary school. Her gang of friends include fellow teachers : Rob (who she shares a romantic history with), Ally (the big-build best-friend with quips galore) and Pete (the tiny teacher with an elfish appearance). Nicky is a dedicated member of the staff and when she finds herself being made co-deputy head with Rob, she’s thrilled at the challenge. That’s when she’s not dealing with the hot and cold responses emitted by Rob.

Adding fun to the proceedings is the truly eccentric head of the school : Miss.James. She is most definitely a Quentin Blake illustration to the tee and has enough oddities and strength of character to make her a memorable cast-member.

One of Nicky’s favourite students is Oscar. Oscar is intelligent, moody and comes equipped with an absent widowed father. Mark Samuels (Oscar’s father) is the classic workaholic, earning big bucks and working all hours of the day to provide Oscar with an affluent lifestyle. Sadly, the only thing Oscar needs is his father’s presence and free time.

When the disapproving Nicky and the world-weary Mark finally meet, the proverbial sparks fly. Angry (yet hour-glassed figured) teacher V/s Bitter (yet broad-shouldered) single father...the outcome is inevitable.

And then out of the blue, Nicky gets offered the chance to apply for the position of School Head. And so does Rob. Suddenly the blow-cold Rob is sounding out waves of pure heat to Nicky.....talking marriage, babies and white picket-fences. A confused Nicky is now faced with three alternatives:
a) Whole-heartedly pursue the shining climb up the career ladder and most probably say goodbye to dreams of a family-life.
b) Give in to Rob’s oily paintings of a happily-ever-after and agree to play second-fiddle to his ambitions
c) See if there’s something more to the sizzling chemistry between her and Mark Samuels.

A whole lot of soul-searching, a bit of hearty venting and loads of misunderstandings happily scamper along Nathan’s final work. The story was predictable. I found her earlier books (The Nanny ; Persuading Annie) to be loads better. But I guess I have kind of developed an emotional bond with the author and got a bit teary-eyed when I read the Acknowledgements.

Melissa Nathan was in the poignant position of knowing that her book would most probably be published posthumously. Her consequent messages to her dear ones left me with a a sizeable knot in my throat, especially the one written to her three-year old son Sammy.

The last lines go:

“Go into the world knowing that while you were everything to your mother, you won’t have to deal with an annoying woman who can’t stop kissing you when you’re fifteen. I will be in the sky kissing you from afar”

.

R.I.P.

[Natt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book a long time ago, and I really liked it then. It was a good read. The kind that warms your heart at the end. Maybe it's just me, but the ending (where the kid was reading out his detention essay) made me smile. It reminded me to view things from a simpler point of view, and maybe life will be easier.

[Brontesruleromance · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Charming and funny slow-burn set at a primary school in London. Nicky, a popular level 6 teacher, is the heroine, trying to determine which of two possible love interests is the "real deal." You get to know her colleagues, a couple of parents, and a student or two as well, and I laughed out loud at least 8 times. Melissa Nathan did a brilliant job with the characters. It was a long book (549 pages) but there wasn't a part of it that I didn't thoroughly enjoy. (No steam, and I'd say this straddles the line between Women's fiction and romance.)

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A group of teachers at a London school have a year of miscommunications and confusion in their professional life as well as in their personal lives. The Year 6 teacher Miss Nicky Hobbs has her hands full with her newest class, especially when she discovers one of her favorite pupils (Oscar Samuels) has a father that doesn’t seem to be a part of his life. The ear full that Nicky gave to Mark Samuels was a career ender, if he told her boss, but maybe it is the eye opener that Mark needs to become a better father.

A very large, long book that had a lot happening all the time. The beginning of the book took a very long time (about 100 pages) to get to the point. Normally I like back story and ‘more information’, but this one almost had more than necessary. While I enjoyed the romance of the main characters (Nicky, Mark and Oscar) that part seemed rushed at the end. It was a complicated romance with a lot of working parts all the way around. Once I was able to get into the story, it was fun and sometimes funny with all of the misdirection.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A surprisingly good plot, considering the blurb on the back let us in to how the book would end. And Melissa Nathan has a knack for picking up on idiosyncracies and putting them into a character which I admire. It's a bit too long though and some parts of it felt muddy, making me wonder if the editors read the whole thing before they hit "send".

[Elizabeth (Miss Eliza) · Rating 1 out of 5]

*Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during An Excess of Chicks: Chick Lit Month (April 2014)

Nicky Hobbs loves her job teaching school, even if she often dwells on the fact that her life at thirty is far different from the life she dreamed she'd have when she was twenty three. Well, only her ex Rob knows she wanted to be married by now with three kids... too bad she's working with him, and soon closer then ever. Rob and Nicky are appointed deputy heads of the school which it turns out is a way to test their suitability to see who would be the ideal headmaster or mistress when the current Head, Miss James, retires. Rob really wants the job and is willing to manipulate Nicky into rethinking her life and into feeling the tick of her biological clock. Nicky doesn't realize the extent to which Rob is willing to go to get this job and thinks that maybe he has turned over a new leaf, much like the new employee at the school, Mark Samuels. Mark Samuels is the father of Nicky's favorite student, Oscar. Mark Samuels is the absentee parent from hell who Nicky decides to throw the gauntlet at. Mark picks it up and by the time they are working together he is a new man... could he even be Nicky's new man? But Nicky is so confused that by the end of the school year she won't even know which end is up or what her future might hold.

Melissa Nathan ranks right up there in my mind as the pinnacle of Chick Lit. She was one of, if not the first Chick Lit author that I fell hard for. I remember being in Barnes and Noble and picking up Pride, Prejudice and Jamsin Field off one of their featured tables down the middle of the store. Besides the premise of a theatrical production of Pride and Prejudice, I had more then a little cover lust because it totally looked like Caroline Bingley (aka Anna Chancellor) with one of her hats from Four Weddings and a Funeral and yes, I really am that easily sold on a book. Because she was a British author with only one book released stateside (sometimes American publishers baffle me), Amazon UK became my drug dealer, getting me all her new releases as soon as they came out until her untimely death of Breast Cancer right around the publication of The Learning Curve.

It was a sad sad day for Chick Lit when Melissa passed. Based on the quality of her work what might she have gone on to do? And now I've turned my review into a total buzzkill. Hey, at least I didn't reprint her forward to the book which had me in floods of tears. With only five books to her name I was extra hesitant to read the final unread book I had on my shelf, The Learning Curve. Once I finished this book, well, there would be no more. I kind of wish that I hadn't read it. The happy anticipation that there would always be another Melissa Nathan book out there for me to read has been replaced with the sad reality of how awful this book was. Sometimes looking forward to something is so much more satisfying then the reality, and the reality of this book is painful.

Before ripping apart The Learning Curve for it's themes, I have to tackle something that just drove me round the bend. This book was riddled with inconsistencies, not to mention an unwieldy cast of characters you have to memorize in the first two pages. Now, I don't know if this was because Melissa was pushing through to get this book done that they didn't bother with any kind of continuity editing, but it is a disservice if this is the case. Seriously, edit this book and get it back to me without the days of the week being helter skelter, with Friday occasionally being followed by Monday, and there once in awhile being a few extra days between Monday and Thursday. Seeing as we all live by the calendar, the least this book could do is follow said calendar.

But the temporal issues are nothing compared to clothes magically changing from leaving for school till arriving at school. Shoes being high heels then flats. But worst of all, in the beginning of the book Oscar's camera phone is a big plot point and then when he's spying on teachers during the school trip he has to use a crappy disposable camera? Um, us the freakin' phone! OK, I've got to stop being nitpicky about this, and other little things like how plodding the pace is, how I dislike every character, how sometimes it all just goes a little creepy with blackmail and inappropriate student teacher relationships, how is Nicky at thirty even qualified to be a headmistress, and how crap Johnny English is so stop using it as the only movie mentioned, and move onto other things. Ok, I think I got the rant out. All these problems could have been fixable but the truth is it wouldn't have fixed the book.

Through the entire book there are strained relationships between the males and females. I wouldn't even say strained covers it, it has such an antagonistic dynamic that when it even turns a little violent in the last few chapters I can't say I was surprised. There was anger and tears and recrimination behind this battle of the sexes. It all boils down to the age old question of men being the ones with the jobs and women being the ones rearing the children. With Nicky we get almost 600 pages of her griping about children/career/children/career/children/career/children/career. There is no progress with this internal and external dialogue, there is just the dialogue. Nicky is baby crazy but can't justify giving up her career to have kids and therefore bemoans this for hundreds and hundreds of pages. I think she really needs some psychological help.

Of course it doesn't help that her supposed best friend who happens to be her ex is playing on these doubts. But seriously, there was never any furthering of the dialogue or a change to it, just a broken record going over and over and over the same bloody tune till I hated this book and the read rage fully embraced my soul. Just writing this review I want to take this book and hurl it out a window. You can usually tell how much I care for a book by the treatment I give it. Those I love and cherish don't have creased spines or loose pages... this one looks like it was run over by a truck, which then backed over it again and again... besides breaking the spine I think I loosened the pages enough that if I were ever to try to read it again in some masochistic torture, well, they'd all fall out. Right now I'm wondering if book burning is a good idea... I'm a little cold and this book is quite thick... stop it brain, just stop it. Constructive criticism. Legitimate reasons for the hate, don't rant, critique.

But the heart of this book I think is the sad truth that Melissa Nathan knew she was dying. Look at the story, not Nicky's, but Mark's. Mark is a single workaholic father who lost his wife when his son Oscar was four. Melissa's husband Andrew lost her when their son Sam was three. So there's a part of me that doesn't want to criticize this book. There's a part of me that thinks perhaps this book was cathartic, that Melissa needed to write it. She was writing a story to tell her husband that he could move on as long as what he did was doing what was best for their son Sam. That it's not about being trapped in the past but knowing that life goes on. This then becomes such a personal book it's almost too sad to bear. Maybe she should have just gifted it to her husband and not put it out there in the world. It's a jumbled mess of unlikable characters and mixed messages and in the end, a dying woman's message to her husband of hope and love. This sad yet kind of creepy revelation makes me feel like a peeping tom that has just written a scathing review of someones innermost thoughts. Perhaps it's for the best that she can never see this review.

[Margo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit long but very sweet at the end

[mitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

When I start reading the first sentence I was haunted by sudden realization on how big this book was, like, 'Mich, this is a 500-page romance, are you sure?'

Turns out, there's more to it than romance. It also highlights a dilemma and life choices of a career woman who wants to have a family of her own. It covers a lot about a woman who wants both and how to convince herself that the two aren't mutually exclusive.

It's a slow burn romance. At first I was a bit fastidious that it took nearly 200 pages for Nicky and Mark to officially meet, but this book took its time. In this book adult romance isn't only about sex, enjoying each other's presence and dang let's get married. I enjoyed every page of it. It keeps the mood light while discussing relatable issues that *I may* be having one day.

This book gave me a lot of feelings, and mostly good ones. Reading about school teachers drama wasn't something I thought I'd go for, but here I am loving it to bits. Overall very sweet, a bit dramatic but very enjoyable!

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, as I have all of Melissa Nathan's books. The saddest thing about this book though, is that it was the last of Ms Nathan's books before she passed away at the age of 37. I wait impatiently for the next books from all of my favourite authors, and it's hard to comprehend that there will be no more books from this delightful author. I feel so very sad that I have now read all of Ms Nathan's books, and that there won't be anymore 'first time' joys from reading her books. I'll be reading her earlier books again, in the hopes that I don't remember them too well. What I love about Melissa Nathan is that she isn't like other romance authors, in that she doesn't get the two main characters together too early in the book. She builds on their relationship in a friendly manner first, as relationships go in the 'real world'. I'd highly recommend this book and all of her others.

[Josephine Barly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read previous Melissa Nathan novels and this one is just as perfect as Persuading Annie and The Waitress.
I loved how contemporary the struggles Nicky goes through are, even if the book is a few years old already, and how her inner thoughts are so relatable. Sometimes she's a bit over the top, but I get her as a character. Mark is interesting and delicious, Rob is a walking mystery and the rest of the characters are just perfect.
It's a fun read that may start a bit slow as Melissa Nathan sets a descriptive place and environment, yet after the first hundred pages, I read the whole book in one sitting. I couldn't put it down. Even if it's quite lengthy, when I was getting to the end I wanted it to last longer.
I read it on Christmas and I'll say, it's the perfect book for such a holiday. It's a perfect book for when you need a pick-me-up. It's, plainly, a perfect book.

[Hana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though the storytelling is somewhat impersonal, I genuinely enjoyed every page. It is a story about two people who despite many misconducts and misunderstandings find their way to be together and create a family. It was very realistic and showed in full light what presumptions can cause. I liked Nicky very much, adored Oskar and loathed Amanda and Rob - her because she was a bitch, him because he was a two-faced liar who on one hand tried to get Nicky to marry him and have kids since she was his direct competition and at the same time was having affair with Amanda. I liked how Mark changed from a workaholic to devoted dad and even though there wasn't any process of falling in love with Nicky, his inner thoughts as well as hers told so much about both.

[Clare F · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I work in a junior school, I found this really funny and had a deja vu feeling as the story unfolded. Three members of the school I work in share these names but are very different to the characters - thankfully !
The only thing I felt didn't really seem right was that 2 members of staff that had only just been made deputies, were being considered for the position of Head. Apart from this, I loved it and some parts were so funny I carried on laughing out loud as I carried on reading.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Melissa Nathan is definitely one of my fave chick lit novelists. I am so sad this is her last book (she died). I am glad that her last book, however, is about a teacher.

Update: I used to love this book so much but struggled with it this time around. Maybe it’s cuz I read it at the beginning of the school year? I felt it was a little slow and some of the sexism and patronizing really bugged me.

[Rachel Brand · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the first chapter of this book and then didn't go back to it for months because I was put off by the entire paragraph describing the main character putting make-up on. I receieved this as a Christmas present from a friend who didn't know that I'd stopped reading chick-lit. It was an okay read, but I didn't find the main character as relatable as the one in 'The Waitress.'

[Kimberlee Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Her last novel written and my least favorite but it has very moving introduction written by her to her family, husband and young son as she was battling breast cancer and wasn't alive to see the last novel published. As far as I know this book still isn't available in the US, I had to order it from the UK.

[Steffi · Rating 5 out of 5]

love love love it <3
It is sad to know, that this was her last book and ther are not any more to come :/
more than 500 pages and I finished it off in 2 days time
all of her books are so heart-felt and make you feel like you're part of the "gang"

[Chloe Mangan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book, as I did with all other Melissa Nathan novels. Such a good storyline and a very easy read. Must have read it 3 times now and it's still a fab book! Sad to know that there are no more books to come from her as she was a very good writer.

[Natasja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this. Bought it in the airport on the last lag of a long work trip. It was just the thing to relax with on my last flight home. A great girly read.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than average chick-lit about a teacher struggling to balance her love life and career. Some humour, some great characters, and a fast-paced plot. Well written light reading.

[Yana Rosli · Rating 4 out of 5]

erm...ok la...its abt a father of a boy who fall in love wif de teacher. neva expecting dat kind of love duh but i unbelieveablely enjoyed reading de book.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book and although it is quite thick i finished it quickly. I also found it easy to relate to as I am in the teaching profession.

[SeaBae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Completely charming and compulsively readable.

[Lara Selavka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, probably the most engaging of her books. Terribly sad that no more books will be coming from this fantastic author.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good chick-lit. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

[Fijke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heart-warming story. Great book to read no matter where you are what time of day it is or what season of the year it is:)

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, predictable, and British with a capital B, exactly the kind of mindless fluff needed in times of extreme intellectual/emotional stress.

[Carolina Gonzalez · Rating 3 out of 5]

The tittle speaks for it self, life is a learning curve!!

[Paris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice, easy read for the summer holidays!

[Ivana Jelinic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow I finished this one in the blink of an eye!

I am positively surprised, definitely! I must admit I was judging it even before opening it, as I expected a dragging plot with overly silly characters, like in many wannabe cool chick-lits. However, I was deeply immersed in a story that is captivating and feels real, with various characters & great dialogue. This is the first Melissa Nathan’s books I read and now I’m excited to read all the others!

Plot-In-Short
Nicky Hobbs is a teacher in North London. She is single, in her 30s and questioning her future: whether she could juggle family and career one day (possibly soon, as she says “the clock is ticking”). She works with Rob (the two had a relationship 7 years ago & have been flirting ever since, he’s eye-candy and honestly such a d*ck), Ally (single, a bit large, supportive best friend, I really like Ally), Amanda (long legs, fit body, such a b*tch honestly. I think everyone called Amanda is b*tchy), Pete, Ned, Martha, two other teachers (the not really interesting characters), the Headmistress Miss James (weird, but good-hearted) & her assistant Janet (she cares about nothing, I have love for her at moments).
Nicky and Rob get promoted to Deputy Heads to help Miss James run different things around the school, they begin not only competing with one another but they get closer to each other again. A bright 11-year-old boy Oscar is Nicky’s favourite pupil and the son of the utterly handsome, rich accountant Mark Samuels. Unfortunately, Mark works every hour of the day (and night!) and spends little time with his son. This changes when Nicky, the only person ever to do so, sets him straight! Mark starts to spend more time with Oscar and with Nicky, which makes her even more confused. She is, basically, confused until the very end, when the finale of the story brings a quite satisfying turn of events!

What I really liked in The Learning Curve
~ I really like Nicky, even though she’s sometimes so blind when it comes to Rob, I mean come on gurl he’s obviously a lil sh*t.
~ I also really like Mark & Oscar, I expected Mark to be very posh and self-centred and Oscar to be more annoying and a cry baby, but I was positively surprised, the two are really nice people and are actually quite down to earth and funny.

What I didn’t really like in The Learning Curve
- I. Hate. Amanda. And Rob. But mostly Amanda. This is not a criticism towards the author, it’s the characters I really dislike, which means the author did a really great job portraying them. I just wanna punch Amanda every time I "see" her. Uuugggghhhhh!!
- Maybe the only thing I didn’t like about the story is the ending, or more precisely its shortness. I wanted the story to continue, as I feel the characters at the very end of the book need more story together.

All in all, I recommend the book to anyone searching for a light, fun read that makes you smile & makes the time fly by.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, I wanted to say that the acknowledgements made me cry, how sad is it to know that you are writing book, knowing it will be your last and then to thank the people that you love in this book knowing you are not going to b there anymore when it is published? I feel so heartbroken for this lovely talented writer, how sad she had to leave her young child so soon, not being able to see him grow up. This book has been great fun to read. Nicky was very relatable and also made me think about things in different perspective. Its so true it isn't always easy to balance life well, with work and children, it is hard and so many things to take into account. The only reason why I did not give it 5 stars is that I felt I wanted more interactions sooner between Nicky and Mark. I was delighted to read it in different perspectives, making the book more interesting. A real enjoyable read and I would definitely read her other works as well.