Zero Tolerance

by The Old Grey Owl

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Pub Date 28 Feb 2020 | Archive Date 12 Jun 2020

The Book Guild | Matador

General Fiction (Adult) | New Adult

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Description

A school therapy dog put down as a cost-cutting measure. An Ofsted inspector who grades his sexual encounters on a clipboard. A Head of Humanities who spends every waking minute scouring the Norwegian Meteorology Service website, desperate for a hint of snow. A Deputy Head found naked, bound and gagged after the Year 11 Prom. A Chief Executive of the Local Education Authority waiting for a phone call as the only employee left in a once vast empire. A Secretary of State for Education with a cunning plan to solve the Social Care crisis.

Welcome to the world of State Education in austerity England in 2019, a country riven by decline, distrust and division. When Karim, a fifteen year old Syrian refugee, arrives at Fairfield High School he thinks that he has escaped from hell. But then the Multi Academy Trust takes over…

A school therapy dog put down as a cost-cutting measure. An Ofsted inspector who grades his sexual encounters on a clipboard. A Head of Humanities who spends every waking minute scouring the...

A Note From the Publisher

The Old Grey Owl has lived and taught in London from 1982, working as an English teacher, a Deputy Headteacher and a senior moderator/examiner for GCSE English for one of the major examination boards. Since his retirement in 2017, he has written three novels and several short stories, and regularly blogs and tweets about education, politics and culture.

The Old Grey Owl has lived and taught in London from 1982, working as an English teacher, a Deputy Headteacher and a senior moderator/examiner for GCSE English for one of the major examination...

Advance Praise

"A satirical, yet hopeful, look at 21st century schools and the dark forces attempting to transform them.

This is a must-read for any teacher that will make you think about what it's really all for. The novel deftly blends wit and wisdom throughout and The Old Grey Owl writes unsavoury characters so well that you'll be recoiling at every mention of the pathetic 'Barry Pugh'!" - Amazon review

"A satirical, yet hopeful, look at 21st century schools and the dark forces attempting to transform them.

This is a must-read for any teacher that will make you think about what it's really all for...

Available Editions

EDITION	Ebook
ISBN	9781838598297
PRICE	US$4.99 (USD)
PAGES	200

Additional Information

Average rating from 10 members

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Featured Reviews

Reviewer 376312

At first, I got a really weird vibe while I was reading this. However, as I continued reading, that feeling went away. It was written well and I felt a lot of thought went into it. I have a lot to think about now and it was nice to see a different portrayal of educators. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this!

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Abbi M, Reviewer

TL;DR - this is a very slow burn, with many characters, and it took me a while to get into it but the ending was kinda worth it. If you're into perspectives of teachers and the hidden drama behind school policies this might be up your alley.

For the first 70% of this book I was going to give it 2 stars. The story was interesting but very slow. I usually like a slow burn but this was a little too slow for me. There's also so many characters introduced as narrators that fade out and you don't hear from them again til way later that it makes it hard to keep track sometimes. There's also nothing noting who the narrator is as it switches so it might take a minute to figure out. The other part of this book that kinda through me for a loop is the time frame. It takes place over 3-4 years. 50 pages would encapsulate a day and then the next page would jump ahead 3 months. I feel as if the slowness, the switching to many different characters, and the time-jumping really made it hard for me to read this book and get as absorbed as I normally do.

But then the last 30% of this book happened and it convinced me to give it a 3rd star. The whole plan comes crumbling down and you don't know til last minute if Rick is on the good side or not. I liked the ending with Rick, Karim, Evana. I like that justice was semi-served. I cried during the reunion at the end. I'm glad I finished this book. I'm happy I got to read the ending because I did really enjoy it. But I don't know if I would read this book again due to how long it took me to read in comparison to similar/longer books.

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Ashley G, Librarian

I wasn't sure if I was going to stick with this book. It was really really slow at first. However, the premise of schools with secrets always gets me. It really does pick up and I found it worth the wait!

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Reviewer 627462

Thank you to NetGalley, The Book Guild and Matador for an advance reader copy of this book, Zero Tolerance, in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, I thought it hit the nail on the head concerning some really important topics and I'd definitely be interested to read more from this author.