The Maths Tutor by Tessa Hadley, 2023
The magic trick:
Setting up a dramatic “will he? won’t he?” moment of truth early in the story
Tessa Hadley keeps churning out these gems.
Here, we have a story that is driven by a memorably dramatic decision. Our protagonist sets up a potential tryst with her son’s math tutor. She borrows a friend’s apartment for the weekend, puts on special clothes, and prepares a special dinner. She gives the tutor a note, inviting the tutor to show up at a specific time.
It’s a situation that clearly drums up suspense. And the rest of the story unfolds – in often surprising ways – based on what he does in response to that invitation.
And that’s quite a trick on Hadley’s part.
The selection:
Over the next weeks she fell thoroughly in love, for the first time ever. This was different from the old half-antagonistic games of flirtation and advantage. She’d never even been in love with Quent in this way; she’d only been bowled over by his seduction, which was an entrance into a bigger life. Quent had shown her how to escape the narrowness and unhappiness of her home, and she was grateful for that. He’d set a high watermark for living audaciously and taking what you wanted for yourself. And now what she wanted was the quiet maths tutor, who sat patiently at her kitchen table, going over vectors and isosceles triangles with her and Calum.
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