I wasn't aware when I requested The Narrow Door that it was part of a series and I feel that I would have enjoyed it more if I'd read the previous books but it can easily be read as a standalone.
The author writes a superb psychological thriller, and the story telling unfolds at a gripping pace. I loved the atmosphere, the multiple narratives and the multi dimensional main character. Highly recommended.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

Although this is part of the Malbry series, it can be read as a standalone psychological thriller however, those who have read the previous books will be delighted to see the mention, and the return, of some of the characters from Gentleman and Players and Different Class.

In A Narrow Door we meet again with Rebecca Buckfast who, as the first female headmistress of St Oswald's School, is determined to offer equal education to all her pupils and and by finally allowing girls into St Oswald's, and in turning the school from a Grammar School for Boys into a Co-educational Academy, it would seem that the narrow door of opportunity may finally be allowed to widen for the girls who can now enter through its, rather masculine, doors.

Over the course of this darkly, different story, we get to know more about Rebecca Buckfast, the secrets she keeps, and the burdens she carries, and equally, we discover more about Roy Straitley, the Latin and Classics master at St Oswald's, who with his penchant for dropping Latin phrases into the narrative is a fully paid up member of the old boy's brigade. When a body is discovered in the school grounds the story moves in a very different and rather macabre direction, as not only does this body mean an escalation of trouble for one character but even the whisper of another scandal could bring about the demise of St Oswald's.

As complex and manipulative as its lead character A Narrow Door is a cleverly written psychological thriller which not only tightens up some loose ends but which also reiterates the cleverness of the narrative, the complexities of the spiralling threads which the author manipulates with such consummate ease, and which draws the reader ever deeper into a dark and gothic tale of secrets, betrayal and lies. In order to know where we are going, we need to know where we have been, and A Narrow Door is very much about looking at the sins of the past and clearing the way for a different future - Per aspera ad astra...

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest, independent review.

For the first time in its history, St Oswald’s has a headmistress and the gates are opening to girls.

However, as Rebecca Buckfast, who has quite literally spilt blood to become headmistress, starts her new role, the remains of a body are discovered within the school grounds.

I did take my time to get into the flow of this novel; I then discovered this is the third in a series. However, it could be read as a standalone psychological thriller.

It quickly sped up to a page-turning pace with an unexpected ending. Great descriptions and quite dark and chilling in places; loved the characters and the multiple points of view – the scenes were nicely set. Lots of red herrings too!

The Narrow Door is one of Joanne Harris’ more unnerving books, with a distinctly unreliable main character telling a creepy and winding story that I was never sure where it would go next. My allegiances to characters really switched and flowed throughout, and although I hadn’t read the preceding book, I didn’t feel left behind at any point. I love her writing and this was a really satisfying read, especially as it was great to see a morally grey but strong female character at the helm. Another winner by Harris!!

Dark and intriguing. I love reading characters who live on the borders of morality. I hadn't realised this was part of a series but you don't need to read the first books to follow this one. At points it was a little heavy-handed but on the whole a good read!

Excellent book that I really enjoyed. Plenty of twists and turns along the way.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

A book written by an author at the absolute peak of her power, a pleasure to read and be taken through the story by a total expert. Joanne Harris portrays a complex and intricate world with complete believability, and has such control of the reader she had me hanging on to every single word in the book, following the twists and turns of the story to the end - a masterpiece.

I really enjoyed this one - immersive, atmospheric and genuinely twisty - I did not guess the end. I found the start of the novel a little confusing, and felt the 'flip' between characters could have been better explained, but once I got into the swing of it I loved it.

St Oswald’s Grammar School for Boys is no more. Henceforth, this glorious institution shall be known as St Oswald’s Academy, welcome to both boys and girls under the lead of a female Head. Institutions such as Oswald’s are not meant for women. Institutions such as Oswald’s have been governed and populated by men. But a woman did get in and now she is starting to make the place her own.

A Narrow Door is the final novel in a trilogy of books set in St Oswald’s Grammar School. I haven’t read the first two books, so its quite likely I may have missed out on a little background history, but I didn’t find this to be a problem and it read perfectly well as a standalone. Overall, this was an enjoyable read and I will be going back to read the others, this is the perfect type of pick me up book when feeling down and need something light but cheerful.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

I hadn't read the first two in the series and hadn't really appreciated that it was part of a series of books so some of the historical details may have escaped me but I enjoyed my first visit to St Oswalds and meeting Roy Straitley, old school teacher and Rebecca Buckfast, the new incomer with her own modern ideas on woman's place in the school. Rebecca Buckfast was a previous pupil at the sister school to St Oswald's and her arrival has put the cat amongst the pigeons in the old guard at St Oswalds. I will definitely go back and read the first two to get a sense of the back story, some fascinating characters and storylines!

I haven’t read the first two books in Joanne Harris’s trilogy set in St Oswalds school; however that didn’t spoil my enjoyment of reading ‘A Narrow Door’, the final part in the trilogy.
The boys grammar school St Oswald’s has finally opened its gate to girls and the ambitious Rebecca Buckfast is the headmistress. The Latin master Ray Straitley is approached by some of his students who inform him of a body they have found in the school grounds. Ray passes the problem on to the headmistress but then ends up in hospital.
The story is told from the perspectives of Ray and Rebecca and moves between the past and the present. We learn that Rebecca Buckfast’s brother went missing from St Oswald’s when he was a pupil at the school.

A rather excellent crime novel. Time now to catch up with the two earlier novels in the series.

As the first woman Head of St Oswald’s school, Rebecca Buckfast represents the future of the school. But she is a woman haunted by a terrible past, with a brother who went missing as a teenager and plagued by muddled memories of the awful event. When a body is found by some students on the school grounds, she tells her story to Roy Straitley, classics teacher for many years at St Oswald’s.

I understand that this book is a continuation of previous books following Roy Straitley and St Oswald’s but I haven’t read any of these and I don’t think you need to have in order to enjoy this one – it works perfectly well as a standalone novel. A Narrow Door centres around the complex character of Rebecca Buckfast and addresses the difficulty women have in breaking into a world of men. Rebecca is quite a challenging protagonist because she’s likeable enough to get along with, but she’s very manipulative and makes some questionable decisions along the way.

The story is told in segments alternating between Rebecca and Roy’s point of view, as well as switching between past and present timelines. We learn about Rebecca’s childhood and her return to King Henry’s years later, as well as Roy coming to terms with the crimes of his old friend Eric Scoones, which was an interesting addition to the plot.

There are a lot of twists and turns and plenty of red herrings, but as the story progressed it did become quite easy to predict where things were going. Joanne Harris is an exceptional writer and this book didn’t break the trend, but I found the narration quite repetitive in parts, and the switching POV between Rebecca and Roy wasn’t always terribly smooth. Having said that, it’s still a gripping mystery.

"The mistake you made was one of scale. Men always do, used as they are to taking the main entrance. Women must be more discreet. All we need is a narrow door. And when we have crept in unseen, like a spider through a keyhole, we spin ourselves an empire of silk, and fill you with astonishment."

In 2006, 40 year old protagonist Rebecca Buckfast is headteacher at St Oswald's Grammar School. She's working alongside teachers, including Roy Straitley, Latin teacher and Eric Scoones, French teacher, who taught her late brother Conrad. Conrad disappeared as a teenager, presumed dead, from school when Rebecca was five. When some boys at school find what appears to be the body on the site of a new school building, Rebecca's response is uncertain. Could this be Conrad? Memory fragments of his disappearance return the more time she spends at St O's. Someone is playing tricks on her, causing her to question her sanity, scaring her and leading her closer to her brother's killer.

In 1989 Becky Price has just started as a French teacher at King Henry's Grammar School. She lives with her daughter, Emily aged 6 and partner Dominic Buckfast. At St H's she meets French master Eric Scoones (a friend of Roy Straitley) and Carrie Mcleod, a drama teacher, both tought Conrad. We learn more about Becky and about Conrad's disappearance.

Whilst this can be read as a standalone novel, it is part of a series set at St Oswald's and featuring Roy Straitley, which I haven't read. It's a clever, feminist, psychological thriller that uses Greek mythological rivers, to find out what happened to Conrad Price. Masterful, multi-layered storytelling with building tension, my first Joanne Harris novel since Chocolat did not disappoint!

I hadn't realised this was part of a series set in St Oswalds, but it works perfectly as a standalone. I enjoyed this very much - it was what I might call a feminist psychological drama. I love her writing and the way the story unfolds layer by layer. I will now read the others in the series.

I love this author, but was a bit surprised by this genre. She’s nailed the psychological thriller. I loved the lead women, she was so strong and driven (maybe unhealthily driven) but very clever. This was truly a thrilling read. As a teacher myself, I loved the themes and characters. Wonderful for anyone who likes this author or a good old gripping read.

t's an incendiary moment for St Oswald's school. For the first time in its history, a headmistress is in power, the gates opening to girls.
Rebecca Buckfast has spilled blood to reach this position. Barely forty, she is just starting to reap the harvest of her ambition. As the new regime takes on the old guard, the ground shifts. And with it, the remains of a body are discovered.
But Rebecca is here to make her mark. She'll bury the past so deep it will evade even her own memory, just like she has done before. After all...

Firstly thank you to the publisher and the tour host for inviting me to the tour on this one
This book is the last in the trilogy. I did not know this when I initially picked up the book. I do feel that this book needs to be read as part of the trilogy
The writing style is a very unique style. Very descriptive and explained.
This book has some very clever twists throughout it and I can see why lots of other readers think it to be gripping and tense
Unfortunately, for me, I did not enjoy this as much as I have enjoyed other thrillers, mainly because I struggled with the storyline. I think this book needs to be read in its trilogy and why I did not feel the same way as other readers about this book. I have read some other incredible reviews about this book, so please do not write th

Unfortunately this book wasn't for me. I had not realised this was the third in the series but I'm not sure that made too much difference. I found switching between 2 narrators without any warning very irritating and difficult to follow. Perhaps is I had read the previous books I might have been used to the style. The story itself was fine and I'm sure would transfer into a good TV series.

I didn’t realise when I started reading ‘A Narrow Door‘ that this is the third and final part of a trilogy. While some references to events of the past piqued my curiosity, none of it impacted my reading enjoyment and I feel this one reads quite well as a stand-alone.

St. Oswald’s School is a very traditional boys only school. But things are about to change. For the first time in its history, a headmistress is in charge and the gates are opening to girls. The new regime under the watchful eye of Rebecca Buckfast is facing off the old guard, in this case mostly in the form of Master Straightley. But while the foundations of a new future are poured, the remains of a body are discovered. Who was this unfortunate person and how did they meet their untimely end?

If it were up to Rebecca, the past would be buried as deep as she could possibly bury it. And yet, there she is, headmistress of a school where many years ago her older brother Conrad disappeared. Apart from a few seemingly mismatched images in her mind, Rebecca doesn’t remember much about those days. But the past has a way of rearing its ugly head.

Rebecca telling her story starts out as a way of distracting Straightley so he doesn’t report the human remains to the police. And Straightley is curious, mostly about his old friend Eric who used to roam the halls of this school right alongside him. But also about Rebecca herself. This woman who somehow managed to enter his world and push through all these changes. I liked Straightley immensely. I completely understood his resistance to change and the loss of traditions and I loved how much he loved the school and “his boys”. At the same time, for various reasons, I also feared for him and worried about him.

Rebecca, on the other hand, I found massively unlikeable. She’s a manipulator, selfish and ruthlessly ambitious. That feeling I had about her never wavered, even when I learnt more about her background which offers clues as to how she became the woman she is today. That felt somewhat weird, as it seemed I should have been rooting for this woman set on taking down the patriarchy but I most definitely wasn’t. That said, the way she tells her story is immensely intriguing. Even at times when it felt as if little was happening, I found myself glued to the pages seeking out clues like breadcrumbs. While I may have figured out a few things a tad too easily to my liking, that didn’t bother me.

I was never entirely sure what Rebecca’s endgame was and I definitely feel as if I’ve been left with quite a few unanswered questions. What impressed me the most though is while this story is being told via a good old-fashioned normal adult conversation, it’s incredibly dark and slightly disturbing. Slowly but surely, the layers of the past are peeled back and revealed. You find yourself stuck in Rebecca’s web, just like Straightley, and even though you should know better you keep coming back for more. Also just like Straightley.

Full of intrigue and suspense, ‘A Narrow Door‘ took a while to grab me but when it did, it did not let go! Absolutely compelling, tense and chilling. I enjoyed it!

Although A Narrow Door does at times read a little too like Gentlemen and Players. Compared to the previous instalments it isn't quite as gripping as its predecessors. The 'villain' here also sounded a wee bit..dated? Her 'righteous' anger struck me as somewhat overdone. I also found her commentary on gender (from sexism to what it means to live in a patriarchal society) to be...'been there done that'. I also found her, in spite of her stating otherwise, self-pitying. All in all it was an okay continuation to the series, I wouldn't recommend it to those who aren't familiar with the previous volumes.

I’ve never read any of the authors books before and it wasn’t until after I read A Narrow Door that I learned it was part of a series. Don’t let that put you off if you haven’t read the others as I did not notice at all!

The storyline was intriguing and definitely kept me interested. I did get a little confused between schools and characters. This was more so in the earlier section of the book but it didn’t put me off.

If you like the mystery type genre then I think you would enjoy this too. I would definitely be interested to read other of her books in the future.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. #ANarrowDoor