‘A Scandal Has Wings’ by Graham Donnelly

The Book Guild Ltd,
28 February 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-83574-141-2 (PB)

It is September 1974, and The Thomas Newcomen College of Technology welcomes its lecturers, fresh from their summer break to a new academic year.  The classical structure of the facility, built in the mid-1950s, pays homage to sixteenth century tastes, but the curriculum taught in its classrooms is in keeping with significant societal, economic and political changes that have swept through Britain since the end of The Second World War. 

This juxtaposition of traditional past and progressive present is a key theme running through A Scandal Has Wings.  It is embodied in its first character, twenty-eight-year-old Gillian Trevis, as she drives her Mini Cooper towards the old-fashioned edifice, little expecting that, along with one of her colleagues, she is destined to play a crucial role in the scandal suggested by the title. 

Gillian, who previously worked as an economic analyst, is the only woman who lectures in that subject at Newcomen.  She is fully aware that she is breaking new ground in a traditionally male preserve and presents as comfortable, confident, and keen - a modern woman in a modern world.  It soon becomes clear, however, that a few of her colleagues are less sanguine as they negotiate boundaries that have been blurred by contemporary trends.  Some, particularly the male characters, struggle to find their way in this new normal, whilst others welcome the possibilities offered by relaxed social mores and behave in ways that are, at the very least, unbecoming. 

Another significant group of characters are the students from both Newcomen and a nearby private school.  Confronting the fraught years of their late adolescence, these young people contribute to some of the moral dilemmas central to the plot.  Boundaries are breached as naïve, but desperate to be sophisticated, youngsters interact with their mentors.  A disconcerting potential for disaster looms as various strands of the plot are revealed.  Tensions rise and fall as the strengths and weaknesses of protagonists are exposed and the story advances inexorably towards a potentially disastrous quandary at the heart of the novel. 

The events depicted are a reminder of how a chance decision can have unimaginable consequences.  It poses the question, what would I do in this predicament?  As always, the writer describes his characters with precision and empathy, and in the key event, which is perilous to say the least, we see the best, as well as the worst, of human nature. 

A Scandal Has Wings, is yet another compelling and absorbing read from the imaginative Graham Donnelly. Highly recommended.
------
Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

Graham Donnelly was born and grew up in London. His varied professional background includes government service, international banking and lecturing in Economics and Management. His first five books were written in the 1980s and 90s and related to his academic work. His first novel, Mussolini's Chest, arose out of his interest in modern history and how ordinary people react to extraordinary situations and is based on true events. His second novel, Unwritten Rules, draws on his own experience in the Home Office and his knowledge of the state security issues at that time. He lives with his wife near Colchester and has two children and three grandchildren.  

Dot Marshall-Gent worked in the emergency services for twenty years first as a police officer, then as a paramedic and finally as a fire control officer before graduating from King’s College, London as a teacher of English in her mid-forties.  She completed a M.A. in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education, London and now teaches part-time and writes mainly about educational issues.  Dot sings jazz and country music and plays guitar, banjo and piano as well as being addicted to reading mystery and crime fiction.