A Separate Peace

An American classic and bestseller for over thirty years, A Separate Peace is timeless in its depiction of adolescence during a period when the entire country was losing its innocence to the Second World War. Set at a boys' boarding school in New England during the early years of World War II, it is a harrowing and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely, introverted intellectual, while Phineas is a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete. The events between the two friends one summer, like the war itself, shatter the innocence of these boys and their world. A bestseller for more than thirty years, A Separate Peace is John Knowles' crowning achievement and an undisputed American classic.