The English Teacher: A Novel

I liked this book very much and found that, the further I read, the more intrigued I became and the more I wanted to read this novel through to its conclusion. I do love how the author's introduction describes this novel as "And so, this is a true story, of real-life operatives that are wholly made-up, and actual missions that never happened." Spy stories usually don't interest me. The first chapter of this novel was kind of slow. What intrigued me most about it was that it was about an Israeli Mossad agent whose story was told through her handler. Not knowing much about espionage at all, I was interested in the professional relationship between the handler Ehud and his operative Rachel.

I thought that this story was told from a very show more interesting perspective. The story seemed very real, but I'm not sure I can buy into a particular decision Rachel made near the end of the book. I found this story tense and thrilling and would recommend this book to those who like to read books by Israeli authors or who like to read novels about the Mossad or about espionage in general. show less

Rachel Goldschmitt is a British citizen recruited by Mossad. She is sent to an unnamed country that seems like Iran with the cover of an English Teacher, and against all rules, falls in love with an Iranian Ministry of Defense official named Rashid, which she conceals from her case officer, Ehud, who is in turn in love with Rachel. She takes part in assassinations both in and out of the country. She believes her father has no interest in her life when he is actually trying to protect her. She lies to basically everyone she knows.

She is pulled out of Iran within hours after it is feared she may be exposed. She abandons a dog and cat she has adopted, tells no one she’s leaving and gets on a flight. Fifteen years later, long retired from show more duty, she calls Ehud a week after her father dies and leaves a message that causes the Mossad to go to great efforts to find her. What she’s doing is returning to the country to find Rashid, trying to recapture the last time she felt loved and needed.

A tragic story and a study of the great sacrifices made by the deep cover agent. show less

Excellent. hard to believe this a translation. It was seamless.
He captured the Israeli mindset and personalities. None of this superman stuff, real humans, the way I've known Israelis over these 30 yrs.
Psychological thriller, tense and moving, this is one of the best espionage books I've read. Reminds of me of LeCarre's The Perfect Spy, Alan Furst and Graham Green.
Recommended!

Unlike most spy fiction, "The English Teacher" (ET) certainly does not glamorize any aspect of spying. Not the life of heroine Rachel, nor the lives of her masters, nor for their missions and the organization for which they work (Israel's Mossad). Actually, by book's end, this reader questioned why anyone want to have anything to do with Mossad.

Rachel is a washed up spy at 35. She has worked in an unnamed Arab country for a number of years, has demonstrated craftiness beyond expectation in successfully pulling off several missions. She has played a key role in the execution (my word) of a few taregts. And she fell in love, a Mortal sin. And now after 15 years of semi-retirement, she has disappeared. Her masters are apoplectic with the show more fear that she could spill her guts to the opposition. Her Mossad contact sits with Joe, the department head, going through her history, and this narration forms a major part of the book. Joe gives the order, "bring her back......"

ET has some very interesting moments and the writing is generally pretty good, but on occasion it gets a bit clumsy and unnecessarily difficult to understand, particularly at some scene shifts. It's a sad story, a bit predictable. The book has been a bit over-hyped with tales of 50 +/- reviews and forced changes by the author's former employee (guess who?)but it doesn't feel any more genuine to me than tales from Deighton, Littell, Le Carre. I doubt I'll read another by author Atir. show less

Very much a child of John Le Carré's A Perfect Spy, as in, "why did the spy go bad?". And, lots of male middle aged self deception on parade.

I won this book a while back on Goodreads, and I'm really happy having read it. I loved the writing, the descriptions, how I got the feeling to get close to Rachel (the main character). I recommend it!

So depressing!