Awakening (ePub)

A teacher, Jill Ponsonby, has been brought in 5 years before the story begins to improve the performance of Bruneigh High School. Her remit is to get the Ofsted rating of the school up from 'special measures' to 'good' within 5 years, the council deciding at the end of that period on whether to close or save the school. As Jill now waits for the examiners for what could be a final time, there is tension in the air. The omens are good, however, as positive results are expected from Ofsted.
But dark forces are at work - forces which could bring all Jill's hard work crashing down around her feet.
Dominic Saviour, a councillor at Bruneigh Borough Council, has been approached by a construction consortium interested in securing the go-ahead to undertake a large PFI project at nearby Windale and has been promised a large bung if he can sway the council in favour of PFI. By the time the story begins he has brought a considerable number of the councillors around to his way of thinking. In a further attempt to bolster his position, the ruthless Dominic enlists the help of some shady characters, in the guise of 'Friends of Bruneigh' to organise a vendetta against the school in order to discredit it and thus force it to close.
Jill and her friend, Tina Branz, enlist the help of some ramblers from the twin town of Chataigniers, France, in a desperate attempt to counteract the dark forces pitted against them. A romantic interlude with a certain, Marcel Dupuis, seems to shed some warmth and solace to a bleak situation.
One of the shady characters, X, has knocked Deputy Head, Jack Branz, unconscious as part of the vendetta. The latter has suffered temporary memory loss as a result of the blow to his head. Vivid, erotic dreams ensue which end with a strange ungainly shape materialising from the fog of a troubled brain. Each time the shape gets clearer.
Jill's very life, as she is kidnapped and strung up with a hangman's noose round her neck, will depend on the fog clearing in Jack's head as events take a distinctly sinister and deadly turn. A final unexpected twist is about to unravel.
Could the dark forces be about to win the ultimate battle?
Will Jill's new-found love wither on the vine? Will she and her beloved school be reduced to ashes?