(AUDIO) BOOKS
Desire Of Their Flesh Broke The Rules
Book review: The Teacher by Gemma Rogers
About two years ago, someone told me I’m a transgressive writer. I was in absolute denial until they told me to go look at the earlier stuff I had written on my blog, before I had let myself in with a community who dictated the ‘rules’ I should adhere to for my stories.
By then I had left that community and deliberately dabbed my pen in transgressive ink. It suited me just fine to write about things that are on the edge, things that happen in real life. No one frowns when they read a crime novel about murder or drug trafficking, or anything else you can do jail time for. Why should we not write about abuse, about illicit affairs, about desires we could better ignore?
I believe writing should evoke feelings in us, and it shouldn’t always be rainbows and unicorns. No, sometimes it should make you feel uncomfortable!
The author, Gemma Rogers
Her love for writing started when she was a teenager, spending it with her nose buried in books by Richard Laymon and Christopher Pike, and occasionally Judy Blume.
She loves a good horror movie, walking her bulldog, swimming and whenever there’s cake, she wants to be there too.
Gemma writes gritty thrillers with strong female characters. All her books are standalone titles, starting with her debut novel Stalker (2019), and quickly followed by Payback (2020) and Reckless / Teacher (2020).
Her other books are:
* The Mistake / Bad Girls (2021)
* The Babysitter (2021)
* The Feud (2022)
* The Neighbour (2023)
Gemma loves the art of creation and watching the stories take form on the page. Her brain is bursting with ideas all the time, and when she gets stuck in a scene, she goes for a walk or takes a long bath. That helps to untangle any thoughts and get back to writing.
Gemma Rogers lives with her two daughters, husband, and beloved bulldog in West Sussex.
Teacher and pupil
English teacher Isabel — Izzy — Cole and her husband, David, move from Wellington, London, to a small village in the West Sussex countryside called Rusper, together with their fifteen-year-old daughter, Charlotte. It’s supposed to be a new start for them, after Izzy had a miscarriage when she unexpectedly fell pregnant with their second child.
On the first day of school, Izzy and Charlotte drive to the new school, but on their way there an incompetent driver almost runs them off the road. That driver turns out to be a pupil in the sixth form, Nicky Stevens.
Nicky sets his sights on Izzy, flirting with her at any chance he gets. Izzy, in mourning and seeing signs her husband is having an affair, lets her guard down and gets entangled in a terrible web of lies and infidelity.
Uncomfortable feelings
When Nicky makes Izzy feel good about herself, she falls for him. They start a relationship, and by the time Izzy realized she should never have done it, it’s too late. She’s so entangled in his web, she does not know how to get out of it.
Yes, she comes up with ideas, but none of them seem to work.
How does a teacher get involved with a student? Life takes us on strange twists and turns, and where we are ‘used to’ the stories of male lecturers doing it with beautiful female students, this story has a different angle. You can think Izzy should’ve known better, but can you say for sure you wouldn’t have fallen for the same trap?
I started this piece off, by saying I am a transgressive writer. This doesn’t mean that when I read another transgressive story, it doesn’t make me feel uncomfortable. Quite the opposite.
Listening to this story, I wanted to yell at Izzy: No, don’t do it.
And then I wanted to yell: No, not again! Haven’t you learned your lesson?
I like it when a story keeps me as invested as this one this, and made me wonder just what that ‘little piece of shit’ would do next! This definitely is a splendid book, but be warned: it will raise the hairs on your neck!
