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The Schoolgirl, Her Teacher and His Wife

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The Schoolgirl, Her Teacher and His Wife

By: Rebecca Hazel
Narrated by: Natasha Beaumont
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Summary

Teacher and former rugby league player Chris Dawson appeared to have it all - a loving family and a beautiful home in Sydney's Northern Beaches. But in the summer of 1982 his wife Lynette disappeared and not long afterwards Dawson married a much younger woman, a former student.

Less than a decade later this young woman escaped the marriage and went to the police to record her suspicions that Dawson had been involved in Lynette's disappearance. A homicide investigation followed but got nowhere until 1998, when Detective Sergeant Damian Loone was handed Lynette's file. For nearly two decades he made it his business to honour Lynette and to find out what had happened to her. His work led to two coronial investigations, but no charges.

Around this time Rebecca Hazel was working in a women's refuge on the Northern Beaches when a colleague shared her story of enduring coercive control at the hands of Dawson, when she was his student, and then wife and she shared her suspicions about the fate of his first wife Lynette. These revelations affected Rebecca, and eventually she decided to investigate.

Over years, coroners, police and journalists all shared with Rebecca their knowledge of the case, and disappointments that it remained unsolved. Until, in May 2018, Hedley Thomas launched the Teacher's Pet podcast, and in December 2018, Chris Dawson was charged with murder. He was convicted in August 2022.

Rebecca Hazel has spent ten years working to ensure that the stories of two women who were misused by Chris Dawson are heard, that their perpetrator is brought to justice and that Lynette's family can properly honour their much-loved sister, aunt, cousin and mother.

©2023 Rebecca Hazel (P)2023 Penguin Random House Australia
Murder True Crime
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Listened to this and Hedley Thomas’s book and while I’m a big Hedley fan this one was more compelling. A really well told account, maybe easier for me to follow as I’ve been following the case for years. Narration so warm and really excellent (and a thousand times better than the non-Hedley narration in his book!!) Rebecca Hazel breathed life into the more minor characters beautifully. I can’t even describe how much I appreciated and loved this book. So respectful and Lyn centred and not at all salacious. Wonderful writer.

A worthy tribute to Lyn as well as a fascinating account of the legal battle

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This is a good audiobook, and well worth a listen if you've listened to the Teachers Pet. My only gripe is the use of abbreviations for characters, MMC, XC etc. Very difficult to follow at times for that reason. Would probably have been easier to understand if character names had been changed instead of abbreviations.

Good addition to Teachers Pet

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Finally, a book that was delayed nearly five years sees the light of day through the darkness. I hope Lynette's family feel that this book is a worthy testament to her. Like so many people around the world I only heard about Lynne through the podcast. The podcast and now this book go some way to explaining how special Lynne was. Tragic that her family had to endure 40 years of anguish before justice was served. All the love to them. Natasha Beaumont did a superb job on the narration.

Wonderful work

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Couldn't follow the book at all. Didn't know who the narrator was talking about half of the time. Could be just me..

Unlistenable

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Excellent narration and whilst there was nothing new revealed I felt there was so much glossed over about JC and a lack of insight about Paul& Marilyn’s dynamic & the rest of the Dawson clan. JC was an insider for many years yet she and they remain enigmatic today. JCs treatment of Lynn’s children was covered by a paragraph & they deserved so much more as they & their Mum were treated so appallingly. There was no real insight into JC and her reaction to events at all just a lot of I hated it. JC resetting Lynns wedding rings into a piece for her daughter made me uneasy as again as an adult woman she was uninterested in how Lynn’s daughters might feel. Using initials as pseudonyms didn’t work just made it messy as there where so many. I’m not judging the 16 year old JC I just feel the adult JC presented is hard to get a feeling for & this book is her story

JC as enigmatic as before

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