The Book Boy by Joanna Trollope narrated by Kate Lock
Alice is thirty-eight and has a house, a husband, two teenage children and a part-time job. She thinks she ought to be happy but she isn't. Instead, she feels she has vanished, that she is like something lost down the back of the sofa. Because Alice has a secret that is never spoken of in the family. She can't read.
Now timid, quiet Alice must start out on her own brave journey, and for it she chooses the strangest companion. For the first time in her life, she knows what she wants and she is going to get it. With the help of the book boy.
In this novel, four sixth-grade children from Epiphany, New York - Noah Gershom, Nadia Diamondstein, Ethan Potter, and Julian Singh - form a group they call "The Souls." The Academic Bowl is coming up, and their teacher, Mrs. Olinski who is paraplegic, chooses them to represent her class in the competition. They first beat the seventh- and eight-grade teams in their school and eventually become state champions.
Only desperation could bring Duncan Pennethorne, the infamous Earl of Sheringford, back home after the spectacular scandal that had shocked even the jaded ton. Forced to wed in fifteen days or be cut off without a penny, Duncan chooses the one woman in London in frantic need of a husband.
