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Synopsis
One might compare Laura Woollett to Shelagh Delany, whose play, A Taste of Honey was produced when she was eighteen years old. How rare it was to see such strong, mature, and sophisticated writing by a teenager, for few of them think that way! Yet Woollett began The Wood of Suicides as a teenager herself. Gifted writers that young are aberrations, in the best sense, for only a rare one can write original and spellbinding work at such a young age.
Woollett's narrator, Laurel Marks is a stunning, repressed seventeen-year-old schoolgirl. She also has a weakness for older men most of all her father, whom she'll do anything to impress. After his sudden death, Laurel is sent off to a boarding school where she shortly latches onto a new love-object: her English teacher, Mr. Hugh Steadman.
Following an encounter in the woods, a flirtation develops between the two, marked by hopeful highs and suicidal lows, on Laurel's part. Their romance is eventually consummated one November afternoon, in the arbor where they first met. But Laurel's middle-aged teacher proves to be a more violent lover than she ever anticipated. Like the doomed chase between Daphne and Apollo, Steadman pursues and Laurel recedes.
Woollett charts the course of their obsession with an unswerving eye, describing their unbridled desire for one another and the reckless and tortured course on which they have embarked and of Laurel's unshed grief for her father, whose absence will be either her salvation or her undoing.
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About the Author
LAURA ELIZABETH WOOLLETT, was born in Perth, Western Australia, in 1989. Her initial inspiration for The Wood of Suicides came after looking up the origins of her name, and discovering the root Laurel and the myth of Apollo and Daphne. She began writing the novel as an undergraduate at the University of Melbourne, where she was exposed to further influences like Freudian theory and the Romantic poets. In 2012, she earned an honors degree in creative writing. While Laura continues to be interested in the mythical, she has recently turned her eye toward more contemporary subjects. She is currently at work on a collection of short stories about the lovers and accomplices of bad men, The Love of a Bad Man.
Review
"We get to indulge in a fantasy many have had but also see the downsides of forbidden relationships. Laurel Marks loves her father but when he dies, she is left with how to move on. She begins classes at a boarding school and one day runs to the woods, upset. It is here she has a chance encounter with Hugh Steadman, her English teacher.
Mr. Steadman teaches Romantic Poetry and Laurel, in the throws of a schoolgirl crush, believes he is speaking straight to her. Their innocent looks and flirtation in class eventually turn into a heated affair. The two sneak around the school grounds and even spend a weekend in his home, while his wife is away. For Laurel, this is her epic poem come true. Soon, she becomes more withdrawn from Steadman as he longs to be closer. He files for divorce and talks about the life they will have together. Laurel feels suffocated and trapped and eventually cracks under the pressure of a fantasy that has become all too real.
Throughout the novel we see the myth of Apollo and Daphne running throughout. Steadman pursues the young unattainable Laurel. However, like the mythical Daphne, Laurel keeps running further and further, not wanting to ever be caught and tied to Steadman forever. In the end, Laurel is free from her lover and Steadman is forced to face the life he has created, wifeless and lover-less." --Goodreads
"Woollett impressively captures the excruciating joy and pain of young love, its nymph-like virtue but also sensual power, as body and soul move on their fateful journey from innocence to experience" --Dan's Papers
"A schoolgirl's crush on her male English teacher leads to mutual destructive obsession in this well-drawn, compelling debut novel." --Shelf Unbound
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- PublisherThe Permanent Press
- Publication date2014
- ISBN 10 1579623506
- ISBN 13 9781579623500
- BindingHardcover
- LanguageEnglish
- Number of pages192
- Rating
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The Wood of Suicides
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Stock Image
The Wood of Suicides
Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Former library book; Missing dust jacket; Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.9. Seller Inventory # G1579623506I3N11
Quantity: 1 available