A Terrible Beauty
Edition: 2nd edition
Publisher: Poison Vine Books
Published: July 1, 2000
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 212
ISBN-13: 9781930859005
Subjects: General; Fiction - General; Fiction
First sentence: "Looking up at the old schoolhouse, really seeing it for the first time in nearly ten years, Solange Gonsalvas wished she were anywhere else."
Description: “St.John takes critical aim at all the teaching theories and experiments that school
districts churn out on a regular basis, which totally ignore the abysmal track
record of earlier programs and the basic needs of its students. This novel is an
inside view of the anger and frustrations felt by teachers in failing school systems.”
Booklist

“Descriptions of classroom conflicts, successes, frustrations will touch readers to
the core. The teacher and student among you
will cheer out loud as this novel progresses…”
National Public Radio

“Agree or disagree, this book is worth reading!”
News Review

After suffering the greatest of personal tragedies, Dai O’Connel is no longer
willing to lie. A headstrong Welshman twenty years in an Oregon classroom, he
refuses either to lower standards or to implement the feel-good nonsense of Outcome
Based Curriculum, and as a result is targeted for dismissal.
Sent to document his failings is Solange Gonsalvás, Oregon’s youngest assistant
superintendent. Known both for breathtaking attractiveness and her dedication to
the job, she is relentless in pursuit of incompetent teachers. Deeply believing she can
make the district’s schools better, while struggling with her own concept of what
school should be, Solange finds O’Connel not at all as she expected. Principled,
confident, very good at what he does, Dai is not the kind of teacher Solange forces
from the classroom—but more than competence is at stake.
District politicos demand O'Connel's ouster, and if Solange wants the top job,
she must take his. Bewildered by the intense attraction she feels for the man, Solange
must choose between ruining an outstanding teacher's career and furthering her
own, a career for which she's sacrificed everything.