Notes on a Scandal

For the 2006 film, see Notes on a Scandal (film).

Notes on a Scandal
First edition UK cover
Author(s)	Zoë Heller
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Fiction
Publisher	Viking
Publication date	June 5, 2003 (UK)
Media type	Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages	256 pp
ISBN	0670914061
OCLC Number	51912896

Notes on a Scandal (What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal in the United States) is a 2003 drama novel by Zoë Heller. It is about a female teacher at a London comprehensive school who begins an affair with an underage pupil. The novel was shortlisted for the 2003 Man Booker Prize.

A film version was released in 2006 and stars Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett, both of whom were nominated for Academy Awards for their roles.

Synopsis

The story is told in the style of a manuscript written by the unreliable narrator, Barbara Covett, a lonely, aging history teacher who becomes obsessed with her new colleague Sheba Hart, a beautiful woman in her forties engaged in an illegal, extramarital affair with one of her students. The narrative spans almost two years, and follows Barbara as she becomes obsessed with Sheba, discovers her secret affair, and uses it to trap Sheba into an intense relationship.

Plot summary

Barbara is neither a reliable nor a disinterested first-person narrator. A lonely, unmarried woman in her early sixties, she is eager to find a special, close friend. However, she reveals that she has been unable to make a previous friendship last as she was accused of being possessive, domineering and demanding. Her former friend, teacher Jennifer Dodd, even threatened her with an injunction if she tried contacting her again.

When upper middle-class Bathsheba "Sheba" Hart joins the staff of St. George's, Barbara immediately senses that they might become close friends. Sheba invites Barbara for Sunday lunch with her family. Barbara is ecstatic and the lunch date is given enormous significance. ("I wondered if I ought to make some nod to the notion of having to consult my diary. But I thought better of it. I didn't want to risk her glimpsing the white wastelands of my appointmentless weeks.")

Initially unknown to Barbara, at Sheba's very first term at St. George's, she falls in love with a 15-year-old pupil, Steven Connolly, who, like the majority of his peers, is from a deprived background and has literacy problems. Although they frequently have sex right from the start of their relationship, including at school and in the open on Hampstead Heath, the unlikely couple successfully conceal their affair from colleagues and family. The first time Sheba invites Barbara to her family home for dinner, she tells Barbara a highly expurgated version of what has happened between her and Connolly, claiming only that he has tried to kiss her and that she discouraged his advances. Barbara offers her some advice on how to cool the boy's ardor, and considers the matter closed.

Sheba confesses to Barbara that despite her apparently charmed life, she feels unfulfilled. Sheba has a difficult relationship with her rebellious 17-year-old daughter, Polly, whose youth and beauty only intensify her own feelings of aging and waste. Her husband, Richard, is significantly older than she is and their relationship sometimes has a father-daughter feel to it. Sheba's complaints trouble Barbara, who had idealized Sheba and her family.

When Barbara eventually finds out about the affair on Guy Fawkes Night after seeing Sheba talking to Connolly on Primrose Hill, she feels betrayed that Sheba did not confide in her during the early stages of their friendship. She is also angered and hurt by Sheba's obsession with Connolly and her relative neglect of their friendship. The power dynamics in the relationship between Connolly and Sheba are changing, with Connolly's interest in the affair waning as Sheba's grows. Sheba becomes needier and starts to write love letters to Connolly. Connolly behaves insultingly to Sheba during a liaison in his childish bedroom in his parents' council house, yet Sheba does not break off the affair.

Some weeks after Sheba's confession to Barbara, Brian Bangs, a mathematics teacher, asks Barbara to have Saturday lunch with him. During the lunch date, Bangs confesses his infatuation with Sheba, and Barbara realises that he is using her as a means to discover information about Sheba's private life. Overcome by bitterness and jealousy, Barbara alludes to Sheba's secret. ("'Sheba likes younger men, you know. Much younger men.' I paused a moment. 'I mean, you are aware of her unusually close relationship with one of the Year Eleven boys? '") Afterwards, she is wracked with guilt but cannot summon up the courage to tell Sheba what she has done. Rather, she hopes Bangs will not report what she has told him.

Sheba's relationship with Polly deteriorates further when the girl's unruly behaviour results in her expulsion from her boarding school. At home, and later at her grandmother's house, she accuses Sheba of having an affair. Sheba is furious about the accusation, believing that she has covered her tracks successfully.

In early January 1998, however, the headmaster is somehow informed about the illicit affair - it is implied that the culprit is Bangs. Sheba is suspended from her job and charged with indecent assault on a pupil. Her husband demands that she leave the family home and prevents her from seeing their children, especially their son Ben, who has Down's syndrome; Polly, meanwhile, refuses to have any contact with her. While Sheba's life is quickly disintegrating, Barbara thrives on the new situation, which she considers her chance to prove her qualities as a friend, even when the headmaster, glad to rid himself of one of his severest critics, forces her into early retirement. Barbara gives up the lease on her own small flat and moves with Sheba into temporary accommodation in Sheba's brother's house.

Sheba finds Barbara's manuscript and discovers that she has been writing an account of her relationship with Connolly. She is distraught and furious, not least because Barbara has written about events she did not personally witness, and made judgements about people close to Sheba. The novel ends with Sheba, trapped and demoralised, resigning herself to Barbara's presence in her life.

Speculations

Much speculation has formed around Barbara having deep, hidden sexual desires for Sheba. Though there are occasional references to this in the novel, it is never stated outright, and has caused much debate among fans of the novel and film.

See also

Novels portal

• School and university in literature