Lord Dismiss Us

Weatherhill, a pubic school set high on a hill top in Buckinghamshire is the setting for this appealing story which follows the lives of students and staff alike over a year in the early 1960s. The school has been waning over recent years and it is hoped by the school governors that the appointment of a new Head will rectify the problem. However change is not so welcome neither among the well established staff, nor the relatively passive students; especially when it comes to a purging of those who are deemed to have become involved romantically with one another, boys with boys. The story concentrates on a few fairly eccentric mostly unmarried members of staff, and an equally small group of boys. There is Rowles the long established Deputy Head who avoids emotional involvement; Jimmy the out of place games master who is on first name terms with the boys; Ashley the insular and slightly bitter young English master who has never quite got over his failed love with another boy when he was a student; and the flamboyant and outspoken aging chaplain; and of course Crabtree, the insensitive new Headmaster and his interfering wife and obnoxious daughter. Among the students: Steel the creep of a Head Boy; senior prefect Terrance Carleton the handsome but shy outstanding all-rounder; and Allen the beautiful younger boy who falls for Carleton. The story follows the interaction of these and a several other characters; touching on staff politics; the new Head's investigations; the love interests among the boys. Featuring prominently is the relationship between English master Ashley and Carleton; and Carleton's relationship with the younger Allen, where we see a number of parallels. The two boys fall deeply and touchingly in love, but agree to maintain a chaste relationship. The writing is intelligent, and the reader needs to be alert. I did find it initially uninvolving, perhaps because it is at first unclear who amongst the numerous characters is going to take centre stage. But then I suddenly found myself absorbed in the events, especially when it came to the cricket match; the writing conveying very well the excitement of the match (and I am not a lover of the game!). Carleton is a very appealing rather naïve boy and one's heart aches for him. Altogether it is a most engaging story, at times funny, with an outcome that is at the same time tragic, poignant and yet very positive.

Michael Campbell's 1970's novel deals with the love affair between two boys at a British public school. This school is a hotbed of passion between the boys, and several relationships between other boys form side plots to the main story.Carleton is the older boy, who thought he was above all this passion. Yet, early on in the book he uses on of the younger boys to satisfy his physical needs. Then he finds himself falling in love with another boy. He desperately tries to keep the relationship on a platonic level, without any sex. This is played out in a storm of passion and sex between the majority of the boys and some of the masters at the school.The two become a pair, and fall into a deep love without any passion between them. It is Carleton's last year, and he must move on to university at the end of term, leaving his pal behind.Try as he may, at the climax of the story, Carleton gets his pal alone in his room. As they cuddle in innocence, his pal not knowing, sex unexpectedly occurs with Carleton climaxing against his pal's embrace. This physical passion shatters the relationship, Carleton cannot handle the forces it has unleashed. And he breaks off with his pal, who has not realized what just happened. Not a happy ending at all.