Wow, what a compelling read. This story was addicting and well-written, but it is just not my idea of a good time. Read the blurbs before you take on this thrill...

"The Schoolhouse" by Sophie Ward is a gripping thriller that explores themes of truth, silence, and the weight of the past. The story centers around Isobel, who lives an isolated life in North London and works at a nearby library. She has carefully constructed routines to keep her thoughts from straying into the past.

This was a disappointing follow-up to Sophie Grove's debut novel, Love and Other Thought Experiments. This one is basically a crime thriller with an excessively complex time structure, and pedestrian prose and character development.

Immersive and engaging. A recommended purchase for collections where crime and thrillers are popular.

"The Schoolhouse" by Ward starts with promise but falls short. The narrative's potential is hindered by disjointed storytelling and lackluster character development. Ward's prose occasionally shines, yet it's not enough to salvage the overall experience. The novel struggles to captivate, leaving readers seeking a more engaging and coherent plot.

A book with a split time period. In the present, Isobel works in a library and leads a very alone life. In the 1970s she attended a progressive school. It is a past she wants to block out. When mayhem and murder starts around her, her past catches up to her.

I was really excited about this premise, but I failed to connect to the characters, and the plot wasn't interesting enough to compel me beyond that.

I am completely on the fence with this novel.

There are elements that in theory work: 3 storylines that connect, a unique premise and approach to mystery, disability rep and few others, but there were times when I was forcing myself to continue to read. At times this happened suddenly from one paragraph to the next, or from section to section and it was frustrating. The different forms chosen for this novel did not always work for me.

I could not finish enough of this book to be able to leave a comprehensive review, but I hope it finds its audience and I am grateful to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

i was so impressed when i read sophie ward’s love and other thought experiments in 2021, a novel that felt new and experimental and playful. perhaps this reading experience gave me the wrong expectations for this book. the schoolhouse is a good book! it’s a solid mystery that was well-paced and i sped through it. the writing was compelling enough and the plot was engaging. had i not read sophie ward’s previous novel, i think i would have liked this more, sadly.

Obviously this plot appeals to me - I read it back when the first edition came out. Ha! Didn't realize this was a reissue. Luckily I found it familiar pretty early on and didn't read the whole thing again.

The Schoolhouse needs to be organized differently. It's a very promising book with such a slow start that I almost decided not to finish it. I did what I always do: I went to other people's reviews and saw similar comments about the beginning of the book BUT promises of greatness about the rest of the book. And that was the case. The novel involves several key characters, Isobel, Sally and Caitlin. Each has a back story or current situation that places them front and center. But so very much is left in the background in the first half of the book or so, that one cannot see where this is going and how it is going to come together.

I think there should have been a little prologue that hints at what's to come, even giving away one key fact or so. Than some connections made earlier even if faintly. Just not so faintly that you find yourself putting this book down or skimming it too much because you are bored. It also needed to be cut. You can create much of the very necessary background with less. It's like Ward liked some parts so much she could not leave them out. And each one was like a little narrative nicely put together. But the lack of information that was meaningful went on and on.

Ward writes beautifully. The mystery itself, the settings, the backgrounds, the players? I'd keep them all. An excellent third or fourth draft of a book. She makes characters, particularly Isobel, that are interesting and complex. I would have liked to see more complexity in Sally and even in Caitlin, who is unknown but could have been played up a bit in the absent prologue. Other incredible characters are the "villains" and a formerly homeless teacher from Isobel's childhood school who is less than a sketch. When the story picked up, this book went from a 2-3 star read to 5 stars. Truly pulled together and the mystery both stressed us out and made sense. I can recommend this to people because the end pays for the beginning sufficiently. but it's 3.5 stars rounded down because anything else is misleading.

This is A triple storyline tale: Izzy’s experiences as a child at The schoolhouse in the 70s, things happening to her today, and a DS’s investigation of a modern day crime.

In the first storyline, We learn about the unconventional teaching practices at the schoolhouse, which is a school for disabled students, or those who are kicked out of mainstream schools.

We then get a peek into Izzy’s modern day, life as a librarian at a college, and some of the things that she struggles with caused by childhood trauma.

In the third storyline, we get the police investigator’s view of a local kidnapping.

At first, it’s unclear how these storylines tie together, but as you continue to read the book, you will see that they very much influence each other and how Izzy responds to the situation. Each storyline is very much an integral part to the entire tale.

If it wasn’t for the schoolhouse, and its mental and physical impacts to Izzy, this would have just been another police procedural. That facet of the story really made the book for me.

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher & NetGalley for an honest review.

Thank you to the author, Vintage Publishing and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have not (yet) read the author's much-lauded first book, so was not sure what to expect here. The prose is stunning, very evocative and powerful. I did find it hard to get into at first, as there are multiple POVs and timelines, as well as epistolary extracts from a young girl's diary, and I found it impossible to work out how these various strands intersected. They did link up - not all at once, but step by step and I found myself immersed and it was impossible to put the book down. There is quite a lot of violence, but this book also sheds light on the appalling standard of care and schooling for the disabled.

This moves back and forth between diary entries written in 1975 when Isobel was a child and a student at the unconventional school where something bad happens and today when she is a librarian living a small life. She's deaf and she's challenged by being among others but now a young girl has gone missing and she might hold the key to finding her. She's an interesting character, enlivening the fairly commonplace police procedural plot. Thanks to netgalley for the arc. A good read.

I had a hard time getting into this book but after reading several chapters, the story got more interesting. It is actually two stories going back and forth between about 15 years ago and the present. They actually don't really seem connected for quite some time but eventually the connection is bright to light...takes awhile though! As the stories connected, I was really interested to see how they both turned out which kept me reading. The whole story was kind of strange in general but once you get into it, it is definitely worth finishing. Interesting characters and plot as well as setting.

After a bit of a rough start (I found the prose a little choppy at first), “The Schoolhouse” builds to a satisfying conclusion, melding
-an epistolary storyline occurring in 1975 and set mostly at the Schoolhouse, and
-a story set in 1990 as Detective Sergeant Sally Carter investigates a young girl’s disappearance.

On the surface, the two timelines don't appear to be connected, except they are, somewhat, through Isobel Williams.

Isobel is a librarian. She's deaf, and lives a life isolated from others, eschewing relationships, except the most transactional and impersonal. Her deafness is not the cause of her refusal to connect. Rather, her reasons for isolation are gradually revealed over the course of the 1975 diary entries, written by her, and the 1990 action.

Isobel's diary entries lay out the events at an unconventional, private, dysfunctional school, called The Schoolhouse. Isobel is eleven in 1975 and she describes her classmates and the staff, a few of whom are pretty cruel. Isobel babysits one of her classmates, Angie, who had Down Syndrome, after school. We learn something bad happened to Angie, and Isobel was also gravely injured then, leading to a loss of her hearing.

DS Carter begins the search for missing eleven-year old Caitlin, knowing that the longer the girl is not found, the outcome is not good. After the parents make an appeal through the media for help, Isobel realizes that she had seen Caitlin and another girl at the library where Isobel works. Feeling a duty to help, and to atone for her past, she contacts police, and DS Carter interviews her. Though the author does not elaborate, DS Carter has had experience with child services and the judicial system in her youth, and it's this that allows her to recognize something similar in Isobel. And leads DS Carter to not only pay attention to what Isobel said, but also to investigate her.

Author Sophie Ward brings the past and the two women's present together with the missing girl's case, but also another with an individual from Isobel's past who comes back into it, setting off a series of violent incidents but also the reveal of a few big secrets in Isobel's life.

While I had a bit of trouble getting into the book, I found that once I had become accustomed to young Isobel's voice (in her diary, and cleverly written), adult Isobel's desire to avoid notice, and Sally Carter's thoughts as she worked to find Caitlin, Sophie Ward had grabbed my attention, and I began reading in earnest, wondering how the different story strands would resolve.

Despite my initial misgivings, I ended up really enjoying this book, and found myself eagerly turning pages so I could get to the satisfying conclusion.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for let me read this ahead of publication.
I absolutely loved this. Intriguing from the beginning and kept the pace throughout. The characters were interesting with distinct voices and the storyline pulls you in from the beginning and keeps you at the edge of your seat. Great representation of differently abled people and I appreciated the LGBT rep too. My only wish is that the experimental school was a bit more explored and had a bigger role in the plot but otherwise really really enjoyed reading this!

I was very intrigued by this! The plot switches around between two timelines, which builds the suspense, but in the end, the storyline sort of fell flat for me. Additionaly, the two storylines are a bit confusing at times, so it was a bit hard to get into a good reading flow.

"The Schoolhouse" is a wrenching read. The plot goes back and forth between 1975 and 1990 with a strong sense of childhood vulnerability and the multiple dangers of the alternative school the plot is based from. I would recommend for those who are not triggered by child abuse and/or assault. Well written. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.