Teacher Fiction

Last back to school list - teacher fiction!

Carolina Home by Virginia Kantra - Home to the Fletcher family for generations, Dare Island is a fishing village rocked by changing times-its traditions slipping away like sands of the North Carolina coast. Single dad and fishing boat captain Matt Fletcher deferred his own dreams to support his innkeeper parents and build a future for his sixteen-year-old son. Matt has learned to weather life's storms by steering a steady emotional course...and keeping a commitment-free approach to love. Newcomer Allison Carter came to Dare Island to escape the emotional demands of her wealthy family. The young teacher aims to build a life here, to make a lasting place for herself. She doesn't want to be another Woman Who Once Dated Matt Fletcher. It's both tempting and dangerous to believe she can be something more. Then Matt's brother Luke makes a sudden return home, with a child of his own-and a request that will change all their lives. With a child's welfare at stake, Matt must turn to Allison to teach him to let go of the past, open his eyes...and follow his heart. Book 1 of 5 in the Dare Island series

Different Class by Joanne Harris - After thirty years at St. Oswald's Grammar in North Yorkshire, England, Latin master Roy Straitley has seen all kinds of boys come and go. Each class has its own clowns, rebels, and underdogs--all who hold a special place in the old teacher's heart. But every so often there's a boy who doesn't quite fit the mold. A troublemaker. A boy with darkness inside.
With insolvency and academic failure looming, a new headmaster arrives at the venerable school, bringing with him new technology, sharp suits, and even girls to the dusty corridors. But while Straitley does his sardonic best to resist these steps toward the future, a shadow from his past begins to stir again. A boy who still haunts Straitley's dreams twenty years later. A boy capable of terrible things.

Exposed by Jean-Philippe Blondel - A French teacher on the verge of retirement is invited to a glittering opening that showcases the artwork of his former student, who has since become a celebrated painter. This unexpected encounter leads to the older man posing for his portrait. Possibly in the nude. Such personal exposure at close range entails a strange and troubling pact between artist and sitter that prompts both to reevaluate their lives. Blondel, author of the hugely popular novel The 6:41 to Paris, evokes an intimacy of dangerous intensity in a tale marked by profound nostalgia and a reckoning with the past that allows its two characters to move ahead in to the future.

Gingham Mountain by Mary Connealy - When Hannah Cartwright meets Grant, a disreputable-looking cowboy, she's determined to keep him from exploiting two more orphans. When she gets the job as schoolmarm, she resolves to keep Grant's adopted children in school to minimize their time spent in hard labor on his ranch. Will she succeed in her plans or lose her heart--and the children--to a man she despises? Grant already has a Texas ranch full of orphans he's rescued, but still he's determined to take on the two brought in by the orphan train. Can he wrangle his growing brood while resisting his attraction to the meddlesome Hannah and keeping clear of Prudence, a designing dressmaker? When a couple of con artists discover oil on Grant's land, they'll go to any length to steal his ranch, including forcing him into marriage. Will their plans succeed before the secret of oil spills out? Book 3 of 3 in the Lassoed in Texas series

A Marriage for Meghan by Mary Ellis - Meghan Yost is 19, bright, and eager to prove to her father, the bishop, that she's mature enough to teach in the Old Order district. But just when Meghan gains confidence and assurance, a troubled student challenges her authority and a male suitor challenges her patience.
Life and love tensions escalate when a string of crimes threaten the Amish community, and handsome FBI agent Thomas Mast arrives to investigate.
Is there truth behind Meghan's fear that she's the cause for disruptions in the serene county? And is there true love behind her mixed feelings for Thomas, the outsider? Book 2 of 2 in the Wayne County series

Miracle Road by Emily March - After tragedy strikes his team, college basketball coach Lucca Romano arrives in the haven of Eternity Springs to reassess his life. Even a winning record and big offers can't dent the wall of guilt that Lucca has built around himself. Nothing can--except maybe a vibrant new neighbor who won't give up on him.
Schoolteacher Hope Montgomery believes in miracles. She has to believe--because giving up would mean crumbling under the greatest loss a parent can endure. Hope understands Lucca's suffering; she lives it herself every day. However, the high school team needs his coaching expertise, so she sets out to draw him from his cold, solitary shell and into the warmth of life in their small Rocky Mountain town. But when a weak moment leads to consequences that shake Hope's faith, it's up to Lucca to put aside his heartache and show the teacher that here in Eternity Springs broken hearts can heal--just in time for Christmas. Book 7 of 15 in the Eternity Springs series

The Practice House by Laura McNeal - Nineteen-year-old Aldine McKenna is stuck at home with her sister and aunt in a Scottish village in 1929 when two Mormon missionaries ring the doorbell. Aldine's sister converts and moves to America to marry, and Aldine follows, hoping to find the life she's meant to lead and the person she's meant to love. In New York, Aldine answers an ad soliciting a teacher for a one-room schoolhouse in a place she can't possibly imagine: drought-stricken Kansas. She arrives as farms on the Great Plains have begun to fail and schools are going bankrupt, unable to pay or house new teachers. With no money and too much pride to turn back, she lives uneasily with the family of Ansel Price--the charming, optimistic man who placed the ad--and his family responds to her with kind curiosity, suspicion, and, most dangerously, love. Just as she's settling into her strange new life, a storm forces unspoken thoughts to the surface that will forever alter the course of their lives.

Serenity Harbor by RaeAnne Thayne - Computer-tech millionaire Bowie Callahan is about the last person that schoolteacher Katrina Bailey wants to work for. As far as she can see, he's arrogant, entitled and not up to the task of caring for his young half brother, Milo. But Kat is, especially if it brings her closer to her goal of adopting an orphaned little girl. And as her kindness and patience work wonders with Milo, she realizes there's more to sexy, wary Bo than she'd ever realized.
Bo never imagined he'd be tasked with caring for a sibling he didn't know existed. Then again, he never pictured himself impulsively kissing vibrant, compassionate Katrina in the moonlight. Now he's ready to make her dream of family come true...and hoping there's room in it for him, too... Book 6 of 10 in the Haven Point series

The Seventeen Second Miracle by Jason F. Wright - Seventeen seconds can change a life forever. This is what Rex Connor learned on a gorgeous summer afternoon in 1970 when, as a lifeguard, he diverted his gaze for seventeen seconds and tragedy occurred. Forty years later the waves of that day still ripple through the lives of countless people, including his son, Cole.
Cole Connor has become a patient teacher, and now he has invited three struggling teenagers to visit him on his front porch to learn about Rex Connor--and the Seventeen Second Miracle. Together they will learn how Rex Connor could have allowed seventeen seconds to destroy him, but instead he chose to live every day believing the smallest of acts could change the world for good. And the students, each with their own secrets and private pains, will begin to understand that even tragedy brings lessons. Even pain brings comfort. Even death brings miracles. A seventeen second miracle can change a life--if you let it.

Sunrise Cabin by Stacey Donovan - Dylan's an overworked investment banker. Paige is a freespirited first-grade teacher. From the first time they meet, these two opposites attract. Meanwhile, the cabin Paige is renting has gone up for sale. She loves living there, and she just might be able to buy it--if she finally achieves her dream of selling her children's stories. When she learns Dylan is also determined to buy the cabin, their new romance turns into a real estate rivalry. Dylan could explain his own connection to the place--but that would mean opening up about his past. As his relationship with Paige goes from funny to touching, they both learn more about love and the true meaning of home. 

Quaker fiction

On July 11th, 1656 the first Quaker colonists landed at Boston.  Here are 10 novels that feature Quaker characters.

All God's Children by Anna Schmidt - Beth Bridgewater, a German American, finds herself in a nightmare as World War II erupts--a war in which she takes no side, for she is a Quaker pacifist. Just as she gains opportunity to escape Germany, Beth decides to stay to help the helpless. Meanwhile, Josef Buch, a passionately patriot German, is becoming involved in his own secret ways of resisting the Nazis. . . . Despite their differences, Beth and Josef join together in nonviolent resistance--and in love. Does their love stand a chance. . .if they even survive at all?  Book 1 of 3 in the Peacemakers series

Delivering the Truth by Edith Maxwell - For Quaker midwife Rose Carroll, life in Amesbury, Massachusetts, provides equal measures of joy and tribulation. She delights in attending to the needs of mothers and newborns even as she mourns the recent death of her sister. Likewise, Rose enjoys the giddy feelings that come from being courted by a handsome doctor, but a suspicious fire and two murders leave her fearing for the well-being of her loved ones.
Driven by her desire for safety and justice, Rose Carroll begins asking questions related to the crimes. Consulting with her friends and neighbors--including the famous Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier--Rose draws on her strengths as a counselor and problem solver in trying to bring the perpetrators to light.  Book 1 of 5 in the Quaker Midwife Mysteries 

In Every Heartbeat by Kim Vogel Sawyer - As three friends who grew up in the same orphanage head off to college together, they each harbor a cherished dream. Libby wishes to become a famous journalist, Pete plans to study to become a minister, and Bennett wants to join a fraternity and have as much fun as possible. But as tensions rise around the world on the brink of World War I, the friends' differing aspirations and opinions begin to divide them, as well. And when Libby makes a shocking discovery about Pete's family, will it drive a final wedge between the friends or bond them in ways they never anticipated? 

The Lady's Slipper by Deborah Swift - 1660. King Charles II has returned from exile, but memories of the English Civil War still rankle. There are old scores to settle, and religious differences threaten to overturn a fragile peace. When Alice Ibbetson discovers a rare orchid, the Lady's Slipper, growing in a wood belonging to Richard Wheeler, she is captivated by its beauty-- though Wheeler, a Quaker, is determined to keep the flower where God intended it to grow. Knowing that the orchid is the last of its kind, she steals theflower, little dreaming that her seemingly simple act will set off a chain of events that will lead to murder and exile, and change her life forever... 

The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier - Nineteenth-century America is practical, precarious, and unsentimental, and scarred by the continuing injustice of slavery. In her new home Honor discovers that principles count for little, even within a religious community meant to be committed to human equality.
However, drawn into the clandestine activities of the Underground Railroad, a network helping runaway slaves escape to freedom, Honor befriends two surprising women who embody the remarkable power of defiance. Eventually she must decide if she too can act on what she believes in, whatever the personal costs.

Lilli de Jong by Janet Benton - In 1883 Philadelphia, Quaker schoolteacher Lilli de Jong finds herself faced with a seemingly impossible task: how can she keep her infant daughter after being cast out by her family, abandoned by her fiancé, and rejected by society? After the unexpected death of her beloved mother, a prominent Quaker in their Germantown community, Lilli de Jong's once-orderly life becomes increasingly unrecognizable. Her father eschews their faith by marrying a cousin from outside their religious community, and Lilli is forced to forfeit her position as a teacher. Shortly thereafter, her brother and her fiancé, Johann, leave for Pittsburgh to try their luck at the ironworks, promising to send for Lilli once they establish themselves. After succumbing to passion the night before Johann's departure, Lilli soon finds herself unwed and pregnant, the subject of scandal. Retreating to a charitable home for wronged women, Lilli intends to give her daughter up for adoption. But when she grasps the Dickensian life awaiting Charlotte as the castoff of an unmarried woman, Lilli resolves that whatever their future may be, mother and child must stay together. And so she embarks upon the herculean task of providing for herself and her daughter, while at every turn the pair are beset by judgment, misogyny, and misunderstanding.

The Messenger by Siri Mitchell - Hannah Sunderland felt content in her embrace of the Quaker faith...until her twin brother ran off and joined the army and ended up captured and in jail. Suddenly Hannah's world turns on end. She longs to bring her brother some measure of comfort in the squalid, frigid prison where he remains. But the Quakers believe they are not to take sides, not to take up arms. Can she sit by and do nothing while he suffers? Jeremiah Jones has an enormous task before him. Responsibility for a spy ring is now his, and he desperately needs access to the men in prison, whom they are seeking to free. A possible solution is to garner a pass for Hannah. But while she is fine to the eye, she holds only disdain for him--and agreeing would mean disobeying those she loves and abandoning a bedrock of her faith. With skill and sensitivity, Mitchell tells a story of two unlikely heroes seeking God's voice, finding the courage to act, and discovering the powerful embrace of love.

Phoebe's Light by Suzanne Woods Fisher - Phoebe Starbuck has always adjusted her sails and rudder to the whims of her father. Now, for the first time, she's doing what she wants to do: marrying Captain Phineas Foulger and sailing far away from Nantucket. As she leaves on her grand adventure, her father gives her two gifts, both of which Phoebe sees little need for. The first is an old sheepskin journal from Great Mary, her highly revered great-grandmother. The other is a "minder" on the whaling ship in the form of cooper Matthew Mitchell, a man whom she loathes. Soon Phoebe discovers that life at sea is no easier than life on land. Lonely, seasick, and disillusioned, she turns the pages of Great Mary's journal and finds herself drawn into the life of this noble woman. To Phoebe's shock, her great-grandmother has left a secret behind that carries repercussions for everyone aboard the ship, especially her husband the captain and her shadow the cooper. This story within a story catapults Phoebe into seeing her life in an entirely new way--just in time.  Book 1 of 3 in the Nantucket Legacy series

A Place Called Hope by Philip Gulley - When Quaker Pastor Sam Gardner is asked by the ill Unitarian minister to oversee a wedding in his place, Sam naturally agrees. It's not until the couple stands before him that he realizes they're two women. In the tempest of strong opinions and misunderstandings that follows the incident, Sam faces potential unemployment. Deeply discouraged, he wonders if his pastoral usefulness has come to an end. Perhaps it's time for a change. After all, his wife has found a new job at the library, his elder son is off to college, and the younger has decided to join the military once he graduates high school. Sam is contemplating a future selling used cars when he receives a call from a woman in the suburban town of Hope, Indiana. It seems Hope Friends Meeting is in desperate need of a pastor. Though they only have twelve members, they also have a beautiful meetinghouse and a pie committee (Sam is fond of pie). But can he really leave his beloved hometown of Harmony.  Book 1 of 3 in the Hope series

The Quaker and the Rebel by Mary Ellis - Emily Harrison's life has been turned upside down. At the beginning of the Civil War, she bravely attempted to continue her parents' work as conductors in the Underground Railroad until their Ohio farm was sold in foreclosure. Now alone, she accepts a position as a governess with a doctor's family in slave-holding Virginia. Perhaps she can continue her rescue efforts from there. Alexander Hunt is the doctor's handsome nephew. While he does not deny a growing attraction to his uncle's newest employee, he cannot take time to pursue Emily. Alex is not at all what he seems--rich, spoiled, and indolent. He is the elusive Gray Wraith, a Quaker leader of Rebel partisans. A man of the shadows, he carries no firearm and wholeheartedly believes in Emily's antislavery convictions. The path before Alex and Emily is complicated and sometimes life threatening. The war brings betrayal, entrapment, and danger to both of them. Amid their growing feelings for each other, can they find faith in God amid the challenges they face and trust in the possibility for a bright future together?  Also known as A HEART DIVIDED ~ Book 1 of 2 in the Civil War Heroines