OTHER PEOPLE'S KIDS

Three educators at different points in their careers navigate life and work in a small town in Culbertson’s novel.

After an entitled parent accosts her in her prep school’s parking lot (“he shoved me into my car door and split open my forehead”), 45-year-old Chelsea Garden flees her life and 12-year teaching career in the San Francisco Bay Area for her hometown of Imperial Flats in Northern California. For Chelsea, Imperial Flats holds a lifetime of memories that have haunted her since she left, including an antagonistic relationship with her mother and a not-quite romance with her best friend and first love, Evan Dawkins. Failed musician Evan has moved home to care for his ailing father and teach music at the high school that both he and Chelsea attended. A chance meeting at the local supermarket reignites the spark between the two educators, and they attempt to reconstruct their relationship while navigating the complications of middle age, including the presence of Evan’s 9-year-old daughter. Meanwhile, the school principal, Nora Delgado, is feeling the weight of a decades-long career and coping with her recent divorce. When a dedicated but burned-out English teacher resigns from the high school, Nora offers Chelsea a job as a long-term substitute, and the lives of the three lead characters become ever more entwined. Written by a career educator, this story offers a rare glimpse into the complex lives of teachers, engaging readers in a middle-aged coming-home narrative and inviting them to reflect on the struggles faced by contemporary teachers nationwide. Culbertson’s prose is enthralling without being melodramatic and witty without being overly lighthearted. Every character is lovingly constructed with empathy and imbued with complexity, making them relatable and likable. Readers will get lost in the story and come away having learned a few of the hard lessons that our teachers were trying to impart all along.

A gripping, cozy drama about the careers and lives of teachers.