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Middle Class
'Hugely accomplished' - Lucy Morris, Curtis Brown
'An exceptionally talented writer' - Emma Finn, Conville & Walsh
'Brilliantly depicts the emotional knife-edge on which a teacher and her classes rest' - The Literary Consultancy
She wasn't allowed to bury her mother. Now she must attempt to resurrect her career.
It is September of 2020, and a young English teacher must return to in-person teaching to face the child she tore into just as lockdown was hitting. She has spent months in virtual isolation, unable to attend her mother's funeral and wondering how she will find a way back to restoring her reputation. Her answer is Charles as this class of children from a West London estate face examinations, she will teach them Great Expectations. Yet nothing will be quite as simple as she hopes.
Unflinching, irreverent and ultimately hopeful, Middle Class is a searing insight into the complex theatre of a London comprehensive and a stunning examination of education and social mobility in modern Britain from one of its most exciting new writers.
'An exceptionally talented writer' - Emma Finn, Conville & Walsh
'Brilliantly depicts the emotional knife-edge on which a teacher and her classes rest' - The Literary Consultancy
She wasn't allowed to bury her mother. Now she must attempt to resurrect her career.
It is September of 2020, and a young English teacher must return to in-person teaching to face the child she tore into just as lockdown was hitting. She has spent months in virtual isolation, unable to attend her mother's funeral and wondering how she will find a way back to restoring her reputation. Her answer is Charles as this class of children from a West London estate face examinations, she will teach them Great Expectations. Yet nothing will be quite as simple as she hopes.
Unflinching, irreverent and ultimately hopeful, Middle Class is a searing insight into the complex theatre of a London comprehensive and a stunning examination of education and social mobility in modern Britain from one of its most exciting new writers.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 25, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 22, 2022
This novel is a gift. Speaking as an educator myself, Brewin’s writing was cathartic in expressing the challenges of teaching. The protagonist is caught between a sincere concern for students and grief in her personal life balanced against petty administration and regret for kids she let down. Often very witty, lots of laughing about how education works today. Brewin first told me he was working on this idea years ago, and I’ve looked forward to it ever since. I loved the story.
December 17, 2022
Is education in crisis? Or is teaching a noble profession that we should aspire to?
‘Both,’ you will answer, after reading Kester Brewin’s edgy, compelling, disturbing story, set in a London comprehensive, halfway through lockdown. Jo is an English teacher with high ideals but wounded (almost fatally) by a serious error that has put her job at risk, on top of the daily, exhausting challenge of keeping control of her different classes. There are
‘… so many species to manage, some nervous as dormice, others tall as giraffes…slumbering lions and sharp vultures…cuckoos and sly foxes, collaborating sometimes, fighting at others, working in packs, building nest and setts.
Yes, this is exactly what a school is, a fence around all of this, trying to tame and train the young before releasing them into the wild.’
Jo longs to help them, knowing that this is ‘the core of her addiction, this joy of thinking that… their life can be changed.’ But her efforts are frustrated by the sheer pressure of the children’s actions, driven by their own often dysfunctional life experiences. The reader is drawn into the intensity of her struggle through the vivid language and relentless pace of the narrative. She knows that she could help the children, ‘if only they would shut up long enough to let her,’ if only the school authorities would trust her again. But it seems she has lost that chance through her rash action and her own inner turmoil. Will she be able to help even one child now? She wonders if there is any hope for ‘this great burden that she has chosen, this blessed burden to help children wield language and speak’ – because that is the ‘sharpest weapon’ they own.
Reading this story you will wonder too, but also hope so much that she, and thousands of teachers like her, will be able to succeed.
‘Both,’ you will answer, after reading Kester Brewin’s edgy, compelling, disturbing story, set in a London comprehensive, halfway through lockdown. Jo is an English teacher with high ideals but wounded (almost fatally) by a serious error that has put her job at risk, on top of the daily, exhausting challenge of keeping control of her different classes. There are
‘… so many species to manage, some nervous as dormice, others tall as giraffes…slumbering lions and sharp vultures…cuckoos and sly foxes, collaborating sometimes, fighting at others, working in packs, building nest and setts.
Yes, this is exactly what a school is, a fence around all of this, trying to tame and train the young before releasing them into the wild.’
Jo longs to help them, knowing that this is ‘the core of her addiction, this joy of thinking that… their life can be changed.’ But her efforts are frustrated by the sheer pressure of the children’s actions, driven by their own often dysfunctional life experiences. The reader is drawn into the intensity of her struggle through the vivid language and relentless pace of the narrative. She knows that she could help the children, ‘if only they would shut up long enough to let her,’ if only the school authorities would trust her again. But it seems she has lost that chance through her rash action and her own inner turmoil. Will she be able to help even one child now? She wonders if there is any hope for ‘this great burden that she has chosen, this blessed burden to help children wield language and speak’ – because that is the ‘sharpest weapon’ they own.
Reading this story you will wonder too, but also hope so much that she, and thousands of teachers like her, will be able to succeed.
January 5, 2023
This book as a glimpse into the reality of teaching in an inner city school during the early stages of the COVID pandemic, and tells the story of the impact on teachers and students alike. It also opens your eyes to the day to day life of a teacher who is putting everything into giving pupils the best possible education.
It is an honest and uncompromising story of a teacher facing and overcoming personal and professional issues, with sympathetic and moving insights into the lives of the students at the school.
This book opened my eyes to the dedication and personal contribution teachers make every single day - and should be compulsory reading for everyone involved in the UK education sector, especially ministers and any one setting education strategies.
It is an honest and uncompromising story of a teacher facing and overcoming personal and professional issues, with sympathetic and moving insights into the lives of the students at the school.
This book opened my eyes to the dedication and personal contribution teachers make every single day - and should be compulsory reading for everyone involved in the UK education sector, especially ministers and any one setting education strategies.
July 30, 2024
A masterful debut novel that had me gripped throughout. Poignant, at times heart breaking, at others laugh out loud funny. The story centres on a middle aged secondary school teacher in a rough London estate between COVID-19 lockdowns.
Brewin draws deeply on his 20+ years as a teacher, portraying the often Kafkaesque impossibility of functioning in that role while giving insights into what nonetheless drives people to continue in it. The novel illustrates the need for urgent change, without ever straying into preaching.
Brewin draws deeply on his 20+ years as a teacher, portraying the often Kafkaesque impossibility of functioning in that role while giving insights into what nonetheless drives people to continue in it. The novel illustrates the need for urgent change, without ever straying into preaching.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews