When Alex Morris loses her fiance in dreadful circumstances, she moves from London to Edinburgh to make a break with the past. Alex takes a job at a Pupil Referral Unit, which accepts the students excluded from other schools. These are troubled, difficult kids and Alex is terrified of what she's taken on. There is one class - a group of five teenagers - who intimidate Alex and every other teacher on The Unit. But with the help of the Greek tragedies she teaches, Alex develops a rapport with them. Finding them enthralled by tales of cruel fate and bloody revenge, Alex even begins to worry that they are taking her lessons to heart, and that a whole new tragedy is being performed, right in front of her...
Star Rating
I received this book from the publishers for an open and honest review.
Having recently finished a long run of Young Adult novels I was pleased to receive something different and fresh in the form of 'The Amber Fury' by the talented, new author Natalie Haynes. Being a teacher myself, the setting of a Pupil Referral Unit definitely appealed to me and having taken Classical Civilisation as an A-Level I was thrilled to discover the theme of Greek tragedies underlying this exciting plot.
This story is written in the 1st person from the view of the protagonist, Alex. Having suddenly lost her fiance and feeling overwhelmed by grief, Alex moves to Edinburgh to start a new life working at The Pupil Referral Unit. Here she meets one particularly difficult class of 4th years whose first lesson with Alex descends into a barrage of abuse, swearing and chaos. 'You don't want to be here with us. So why would we want to be here with you?'
The author, Natalie Haynes, has been very clever with her use of time, switching effortlessly between the past and the present. The novel starts in the present at a meeting between Alex and her lawyer and it is this knowledge that immediately grips the reader. It is clear, from the start, that something terrible has happened involving Alex's 4th year students but the who, whats and hows are left unanswered until the very end of the novel.
'I'm just going to answer as simply as I can: I met them on the 6th January 2011, in the basement room at 58 Rankeillor Street. And I wouldn't have believed any of them could do something so monstrous.'
Alongside it's exciting plot, Natalie Haynes seamlessly weaves tales of popular Greek tragedies to both her 4th year students and the reader. I remember reading some of these plays in school and it has certainly inspired me to re-read some of these excellent stories of murder, revenge and fate. With it's interesting Greek history this novel succeeds on every level. I found myself unable to put the book down, desperate to know how the events from these murderous plays would begin to come true.
'Everyone has to live the life they have, don't they? It doesn't matter if it's fated to be that way or if it just happens. You can't say you have no responsibility for doing what you do. Even if you have no control over your life, you should live like you have a choice.'
Another clever element to this novel, was the idea of chapters being split into Acts, just like a Greek play. The story was very well written, easy to read and will certainly hold your interest from beginning to end. As stated in the blurb, 'The Amber Fury is a dark mystery of a novel about loss, obsession and the deep, abiding human need to connect.' A brilliant read that I highly recommend!
