Notes on a Scandal

Zoe Heller

I remember Zoe Heller as the Sunday Times columnist from about ten years back. Her column was from New York, I think, then she was moved to Los Angeles. But always her pieces were cult reading, like an older sister writing home from her impossibly glamorous new life.

Turns out she can write novels too. Notes on a Scandal is a quick easy read. It's the story of the illicit affair between Sheba, a married secondary school teacher in her thirties, and one of her pupils. It's told from the point of view of Barbara, Sheba's colleague and friend. But there are clues as the story progresses through to the affair being made public and Sheba's prosecution, that we are in the presence of an unreliable narrator. It's a weaker ending than the story deserves but still a fun read all the same.