The Classroom: A gripping and terrifying thriller which asks who you can trust in 2018
Don’t miss the chilling new psychological thriller from A.L. Bird, author of The Good Mother and Don’t Say a Word, perfect for fans of C L Taylor, Sherryl Brown and Lisa Hall.Letting go of your daughter for the first time isn’t easy…After years of IVF, Kirsten White is a devoted mum to Harriet – and she can’t believe the time has come to send her little girl off to school. But Harriet has now turned five, and she can’t stay Kirsten’s baby forever. It might be hard, but it’s time to entrust her daughter’s care to her new teacher.… the classroom is the one place she should be safe.Miriam Robertson has been waiting for the perfect little girl to walk into her class. She’s very picky… but when Harriet walks in, Miriam knows: this is the child she’s been waiting for.Harriet knows not to speak to strangers. But her lovely new teacher isn’t a stranger at all. In fact, she’s her new best friend. And you can always trust your friends… can’t you?Praise for A.L. Bird:‘A fast-paced, gripping thriller.’ B A Paris, bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors and The Breakdown'Intense and brilliantly uncomfortable reading' Lisa Hall, bestselling author of Between You and Me‘An absolutely jaw dropper and a must read for all.’ – Karen Whittard, Netgalley reviewer‘Readers hear claim that, “This book will leaving you guessing until the end.�? I am glad to say that, for once, the claim is true.’ – M Scott, Netgalley reviewer‘Kept me up all night.‘ – Kathleen Johnson, Netgalley reviewer‘The psychological tension ramps up to a plot twist that took me completely by surprise.’ – Avonna Kershey, Netgalley reviewer‘Wow! A well deserved 5 stars, one of the best pyschological fiction books of this year so far!’ – Julia Beales, Netgalley reviewer‘One you get towards the end you better hope you’re not needed for anything because you will find yourself glued until the last word.’ – Tara Sheehan, Netgalley reviewer‘Impossible to put down.’ – Linda Strong, Netgalley reviewer‘A pacy, action-packed, brilliantly plotted psychological thriller with one hell of a showdown. I absolutely loved it!’ – Diane Jeffrey, author of Those Who Lie
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A.L. BIRD lives in London, where she divides her time between writing, working as a lawyer, and running around after her young family. She loves writing dark, twisty thrillers. Bestselling The Good Mother was her first major psychological thriller for HQ Digital, and Don’t Say a Word was her chilling standalone next book. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London, and is also an alumna of the Faber Academy ‘Writing a Novel’ course. Amy is a member of the Crime Writers’ Association. For updates on her writing follow her on Twitter, @ALBirdWriter.
‘A fast-paced, gripping thriller.’ – B A Paris, bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors
‘Intense and brilliantly uncomfortable reading.’ – Lisa Hall, bestselling author of Between You and Me
‘A pacy, action-packed, brilliantly plotted psychological thriller with one hell of a showdown. I absolutely loved it!’ – Diane Jeffrey, author of Those Who Lie
‘An absolutely jaw dropper and a must read for all.’ – Karen Whittard, NetGalley reviewer
‘Readers hear claim that, “This book will leaving you guessing until the end”. I am glad to say that, for once, the claim is true.’ – M Scott, NetGalley reviewer
‘Kept me up all night.’ – Kathleen Johnson, NetGalley reviewer
‘The psychological tension ramps up to a plot twist that took me completely by surprise.’ – Avonna Kershey, NetGalley reviewer
‘Wow! A well deserved 5 stars, one of the best pyschological fiction books of this year so far!’ – Julia Beales, NetGalley reviewer
‘Once you get towards the end you better hope you’re not needed for anything because you will find yourself glued until the last word.’ – Tara Sheehan, NetGalley reviewer
‘Impossible to put down.’ – Linda Strong, NetGalley reviewer
The Classroom
A.L. BIRD
HQ
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2018
Copyright © Amy Bird 2018
Amy Bird asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
E-book Edition © September 2018 ISBN: 9781474086127
Version: 2018-09-11
Table of Contents
To my parents, in recognition
To my two little miracles, in joy
She puts the letter to one side. Today isn’t about that. Not in this moment. Today is about Harriet. Her, and Harriet, making a fresh start, together. Away from all this nonsense. If the letter shows anything, it’s that they need to make that fresh start even further away. There’ll be people looking for them. And Harriet is so pretty – people will notice them. England is too small. She needs to go abroad. They need to get tickets to France or, ideally, somewhere outside Europe that doesn’t need a visa. Somewhere not hugely swamped with international newspapers. She gets out her phone, begins Googling destinations. That’s stupid, though. She should just take Harriet to the airport, see what flights they can get. And go.
Resolved, she gets to her feet. Thank God for Harriet being well looked after this morning, while the fresh crisis was breaking. She can imagine her now, playing happily on the grass. Soon, Harriet will be playing happily in another country, doting eyes on her. They’ll be happy together. Of course they will.
At first glance, she doesn’t notice, when she gets outside.
The absence.
She looks around another time.
