READING BY GASLIGHT
New novel hard to put down
by Zoe Whittall House of Anansi Press Toronto author Zoe Whittall’s new novel, The Best Kind of People, is the best kind of book — it’s got a compelling story, characters readers will recognize and come to love, and writing that makes it effortless to turn page after page.
The premise is this: a teacher is accused and arrested for sexual impropriety with students. He’s a father, a happily married man and somewhat of a town hero, who stopped a gunman from entering the town’s school years before. Up until now, no one has suspected him of anything but the most upright life — in fact, he has won teacher of the year every year for as long as anyone can remember.
His arrest throws his family’s life into chaos. His wife, Joan, can’t decide if he’s a cad or falsely accused. His daughter, Sadie, doesn’t want to visit him and is shunned by her former friends. His son, Andrew, just wants his father’s name cleared.
Although neither the accused nor the victims’ perspectives are explored, the surrounding characters are developed in detail and their reactions are revealed with both insight and compassion. This is not a story of sexual assault or abuse, but rather of the fallout for people in the periphery, who are all deeply affected by the crime, or at least the accusations of the crime. Sadie, in particular, is a fascinating character. She’s an overachiever: president of the student council and the student with the highest grades in the school. When her father is arrested, she needs to escape. First, she moves into her boyfriend’s home, where he lives with his mother and her boyfriend, a novelist. When that doesn’t prove to be enough of an escape, she gets lost in a marijuana haze and develops a crush on the mother’s boyfriend, who decides to use her story as the plot of his next novel.
The story swirls around Sadie — she’s the linchpin of this novel, holding things together and busting them apart. Readers will find much to love about this teenager, who might remind them of themselves or someone they once knew. Whittall is the author of another novel, Holding Still for as Long as Possible, which won a Lambda Literary award and was shortlisted for the Relit award. She has also published three poetry books and works as a freelance TV writer and journalist in Toronto.
Whittall’s intuitive understanding of human nature makes The Best Kind of People a gripping novel, one that shines a light on family dynamics under extreme pressure. Zoe Whittall will be at the Vancouver Writers Fest this October.