The Board
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4.5 • 4 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Perfect for fans of Big Little Lies, The Board is one mother’s attempt to uncover the dark secrets that pervade her small New England town. Has she uncovered a criminal enterprise run by members of the school board? Or is it all in her head?
So much for fresh starts. When single mom Liv and her third-grade daughter move to a small New Hampshire town from Boston after a messy divorce and an even messier job loss, they soon find themselves dealing with major culture shock. Within days, Liv is on the “problem” list of the man who acts both as principal and superintendent in her district, and he shuts down her concerns at a school board meeting. Liv’s daughter, who suffers from anxiety, struggles to adapt at a school run like an army barracks.
When Liv discovers that a former teacher was bullied, intimidated, and forced to resign by the board, she begins a quest to uncover what’s really happening at the school. But as she comes into conflict with her ex-husband and the law, she begins to wonder if all of her suspicions are only in her mind. Is she only imagining things? Or will she be able to reveal the dark truth about unchecked power in this small town—before more people disappear?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Farber (The Order of the Trees) draws on her background in education for this shrewd small-town thriller. Recently divorced mother Liv Wilcox is hoping for a fresh start after moving from Boston to the quiet suburb of Whitebridge, N.H. Liv's daughter, Piper, enrolls in the local public school, but after Liv attends a meeting of the school board and raises concerns about Piper's exclusion from recess so she can take third-grade placement tests, the school's principal, who is also the district superintendent, brushes her off. She's surprised by the cold treatment, but learns from a fellow parent that the board keeps a running list of "problem" parents they refuse to interact with. Liv grows more alarmed when she learns that Lydia Brown, a once-popular teacher at Piper's school, was bullied by the board and forced to resign for unspecified reasons. Convinced that something untoward (and possibly criminal) is happening, Liv tries to track Lydia down. Along the way, she grows increasingly obsessed with the board, worrying on occasion that she may have lost her mind. Farber nicely captures Liv's mounting anxiety and makes her amateur investigation feel high-stakes. It's a sharp exploration of parental unease.
