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A local schoolteacher is arrested, leaving his family to wrestle with the possibility of his guilt, in this exquisite novel about loyalty, truth, and happiness.
The Woodburys cherish life in the affluent, bucolic suburb of Avalon Hills, Connecticut. George is a beloved science teacher at the local prep school, a hero who once thwarted a gunman, and his wife, Joan, is a hardworking ER nurse. They have brought up their children in this thriving town of wooded yards and sprawling lakes.
Then one night a police car pulls up to the Woodbury home and George is charged with sexual misconduct with students from his daughter’s school. As he sits in prison awaiting trial and claiming innocence, Joan vaults between denial and rage as friends and neighbors turn cold. Their daughter, seventeen-year-old Sadie, is a popular high school senior who becomes a social outcast — and finds refuge in an unexpected place. Her gay brother, Andrew, a lawyer in New York, returns home to support the family, only to confront memories from his past, including being bullied as a teen, and an affair with his high school coach. A writer tries to exploit their story, while an unlikely men’s rights activist group attempts to recruit Sadie for their cause.
Provocative and unforgettable, ''The Best Kind of People'' reveals the cracks along the seams of even the most perfect lives and the unraveling of an American family.
Author: Zoe Whittall.
Paperback, 405 pp, Published 2016
Shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize
'Urgent and timely, nuanced and brave. This gripping story challenges how we hear women and girls, and dissects the self-hypnosis and fear that prevent us from speaking disruptive truth.' Scotiabank Giller Prize Jury
'Compelling story characters readers will recognize and come to love and writing that makes it effortless to turn page after page.' Vancouver Sun