No Ivory Tower: Book Two Of The Miss Oliver's School For Girls Saga: Volume 2 - Softcover

Selected by the National Association of Independent Schools' book columnist as a "MUST Read " for summer 2016. This is a page-turning read. I couldn't put it down. While the context is prep school drama, the larger themes are universal: miscommunication between loved ones, emotional or real separation and abandonment, the epiphanies and isolation of those gifted with genius. Fascinating and thought provoking at all levels. --Patrick F. Bassett, former President of the National Association of Independent Schools Steve Davenport, veteran school master and gifted writer, has done it again! The much anticipated sequel to to his widely praised SAVING MISS OLIVER'S has arrived. NO IVORY TOWER stands with other classic "school novels" such as GOODBYE MR CHIPS and TO SERVE THEM ALL MY DAYS. It is destined to become a modern classic.-- Peter V. Buttenheim, retired teacher and administrator in six independent schools. Throughout the novel, we are treated to rich descriptions and lovely prose. --- George Eckel, Principal Writer, Intuit; former boarding school science teacher and dorm parent. NO IVORY TOWER rings true about an independent school and its people. . More, it is a book about leadership. ---- Davenport writes as the veteran independent school leader he is, seasoned by the vicissitudes of a life serving students and schools.--- Daniel E. White, Founding Headmaster Island Pacific Academy. Hawaii; past President Hawaii Association of Independent Schools. NO IVORY TOWER presents an insiders's look at boarding school life, revealing the complexities faced by students, faculty, administrations and parents. Davenport, himself a former head of school, draws characters that are real and stay with you long after the last page. I eagerly look forward to the next book in the series. ----- Mimi Baer, former Executive Director of the California Association of Independent Schools. Praise for SAVING MISS OLIVER'S, Book One of the MISS OLIVER'S SCHOOL FOR GIRLS SAGA: Some are called to serve in school. Some are called to write. Davenport is called to both.----Annie Dillard.

"Some are called to serve in schools. Some are called to write. Davenport is called to both" -Annie Dillard.  Praise for Saving Miss Oliver's, Book One Of The Miss Oliver's School For Girls saga.

No Ivory Tower has been named one of the 2016 summer must-reads by the National Association Of Independent Schools

No Ivory Tower:  When a beleaguered headmaster is forced to resign from Miss Oliver’s School for Girls, the youthful Chair of Science Rachel Bickham finds herself tapped as the first African-American head of school. The board warns her to surround herself with the right people, or she won’t succeed. But she’s not worried; she will put the much more experienced, legendary teacher, Francis Plummer at her right hand, as Dean of Academics. Together, they will yank the school, beloved by the alumnae for its empowering of young women, out of the jaws of insolvency.

But before she’s able to make that appointment, Mitch Michaels, the father of sophomore Amy Michaels, strides in and makes an ultimatum only a rabid conservative talk show host can deliver on: kick Amy’s friend and dorm-mate, Claire Nelson, out of the school so she won’t continue to corrupt his daughter, or he’ll broadcast to the world the secret that Claire has been hiding. The scandal, he promises, will shut the nearly bankrupt school down.

Michaels is proxy for every insult to women, real or imagined, since time began, and Rachel fights him with a daring strategy that puts her job on the line.  Meanwhile, bank loans come due, the choices of emotionally charged teen agers and adults threaten to unravel the school, a cabal of alumnae tries to unseat Rachel, and, most alarming of all, Francis Plummer’s performance in the classroom begins to falter.

And it is not as if Rachel doesn’t have a personal life: a marriage to sustain with a husband whose job is just as consuming as hers, and a hunger to become a mother.

Gripping, funny in some places, sad in others, this is the story of what a feisty, young and idealistic woman learns as she struggles to do the right thing in an environment which is, indeed, no ivory tower.