NARROW DOOR

'Joanne Harris's previous novels set at the tweedy British boarding school St Oswald's embodied the spirit of a fierce chess match. The icy rage and ruthless revenge is turned up even higher in A Narrow Door... long a boys-only domain, St Oswald's appoints its first headmistress in its 500 year history and to the chagrin of its elderly Latin master, Rebecca Buckfast's arrival not only portends change, but leads to the excavation of secrets, namely the literal unearthing of a long-buried body. Barely 40 years old, Rebecca is just starting to reap the harvest of her ambition. As the new regime takes on the old guard, the ground shifts. But Rebecca is here to make her mark. She will bury the past so deep it will evade even her own memory, just like it has done before. Another bestseller by the Anglo-French author of Chocolat. 434pp, paperback with tiny remainder mark.