Save An Education

An Education, by Nick Hornby (200 pgs., 2009). This is the author's thirteenth published work. It contains both an introduction & the screenplay of the movie of the same title. Hornby based this screenplay upon an autobiographical essay published in GRANTA. It was about an affair a young teenage English schoolgirl had with a shady older man in the early 1960's.
In this screenplay, Jenny is a 16-year old schoolgirl attending a posh girl's school. Her parents are upward striving middle class overachievers. Their dream is for their daughter to attend Oxford University, make the proper connections, & secure an upwardly mobile life for herself.
Jenny plays the cello. She has been at a rehearsal. She is waiting for to catch the bus to go home. It is raining. A car stops. She is offered a lift. Friendly banter. She gets in to protect her cello from the rain. David is the driver. He is a charming older man. His banter is quick & witty. She is impressed. He drops her home. A few days later, he just happens to meet her after school. More banter. She agrees to have dinner with him. He even meets her parents. They are charmed by him. They are impressed by the car he drives; a Bentley. They are impressed with his credentials & his connections at Oxford. They see him as a Mentor for their daughter. With his gift of tongue, somehow he gets her parents to beg him to take her to dinner, to take her to recitals, to take her for a weekend trip, to take her to Paris with him for an educational trip. She quickly falls in love with David.
David introduces her to his partner & his partner's girlfriend, both much older than her. Jenny is accepted by all. She wants David to take her virginity when she turns 17. Before that time, she has other sexual activities with him. She is 16 & David is 30 something. She wants to marry him. She drops out of school. She loses her virginity to him. She learns his work is mainly scamming people. Sadly, she learns after all she has done that he is married & has no intention of leaving his wife & kids. She has to pick up the pieces & put her life back in order.
This could be a very salacious book, but there are no dirty parts. Nothing is described. Emotions are used. Words are used. I never thought I'd enjoy reading a screenplay. I did enjoy reading this one.Get more detail about An Education.