Lanterna Rally

Author: Edwin Matthews

Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd

Published: 2012-04-05

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 1780881665

The Wager traces the events which take place in a tough comprehensive school, on a day to day basis, throughout one academic year. Simon Brown, the school’s cynical head of science, discovers that the school is overstaffed and that some teachers are to be made redundant at the end of the year. He realises that he and his best friend, Wilson, are the prime candidates for the push. Rather than informing his friend of the situation, he keeps the information to himself and secretly tries to ingratiate himself with the school’s new head-teacher. The Wager tracks Simon’s attempts to save his own job – at his friend’s expense. Besides being a cynic, Simon is also a gambler. He and Wilson make a wager as to whether their new head teacher will survive the year. Their new head turns out to be a disastrous appointment, wholly without charisma and alienated from pupils and teachers alike. As staff morale deteriorates and the behaviour of students worsens, the ethos of the school begins to decline. Throughout the turmoil, Simon delivers his acerbic views on events which unfold around him. Due to his gambling, Simon's wife decides to leave him. Not one to get depressed over such a triviality, he decides to pursue an attractive young maths teacher by the name of Sophie Lawrence and strange events start to occur in Simon’s life, both at home and at work...A laugh-out-loud novel packed with twists and turns, The Wager will appeal to fans of comic fiction – we bet it will make you chuckle. Edwin is inspired by J. D. Salinger, Joseph Heller and Ken Kesey.