{"product_id":"the-country-schoolmaster-nbsp-a-mystery-in-88-letters","title":"The Country Schoolmaster. A Mystery in 88 Letters","description":"\u003ch3 class=\"title-detail--title\"\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eThe Country Schoolmaster. A Mystery in 88 Letters \u003c\/em\u003eby Kate Grenville\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eA mesmerising reconstruction of a hundred-year-old true story Kate Grenville discovered in the archives\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e'I stood there holding the hundred-year-old letter with a feeling that was familiar from other archives, other bulging files of dog-eared paper. It was a blood-running-fast, itchy-palm, eyes-wide-open feeling of stumbling on something. A story ...'\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRummaging around in the archives one afternoon, Kate Grenville comes across an innocuous-looking file full of letters about a schoolteacher in country New South Wales. Intrigued, she keeps reading - and discovers a tale far more curious and complex than first appears. Was Joseph Connor savagely beating the students in his care? Or was he the victim of a small-town vendetta? And what went so terribly wrong between him and his daughter?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eUltimately, Grenville simply has to know: was Connor a victim or a villain? Part colonial cold case, part locked-room mystery, part the dance of a writer's imagination among facts and semi-facts, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Country Schoolmaster\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a book like no other. In it, the novelist comes to understand the seductive pleasure of story-making, but also its dangerous limitations.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"col pb-0\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pb-0 mb-0 subcategory-data--label\"\u003eBiographical note\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"col-12 col-xl-9\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"subcategory-data--data pb-0 mb-0\"\u003eKate Grenville is one of Australia's most celebrated writers. Her international bestseller \u003ci\u003eThe Secret River\u003c\/i\u003e was awarded local and overseas prizes and is now a much-loved classic. Grenville's other novels include \u003ci\u003eThe Lieutenant, Lilian's Story\u003c\/i\u003e, the Orange Prize-winner \u003ci\u003eThe Idea of Perfection\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eA Room Made of Leaves\u003c\/i\u003e. Her works of non-fiction include \u003ci\u003eOne Life: My Mother's Story, Elizabeth Macarthur's Letters\u003c\/i\u003e and, most recently, \u003ci\u003eUnsettled: A Journey Through Time and Place.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"E-Commerce","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50504578367597,"sku":null,"price":36.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0111\/8362\/files\/the-country-schoolmaster.jpg?v=1790216163","url":"https:\/\/shop.nationaltrust.org.au\/products\/the-country-schoolmaster-nbsp-a-mystery-in-88-letters","provider":"National Trust Shop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}