A Separate Peace

john knowles david levithan

An American classic and great bestseller for over thirty years, A Separate Peace is timeless in its description 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, A Separate Peace is a harrowing and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely, introverted intellectual. Phineas is a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete. What happens between the two friends one summer, like the war itself, banishes 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.

Genres classicsfictionhistorical fictionschoolyoung adultcoming of agehigh schoolliteratureread for schooldark academia

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1959

Literary awards

rosenthal family foundation award, william faulkner foundation award, national book award finalist,

Places

new hampshire,

This edition

Format: 208 pages, Paperback
Published: September 30, 2003 by Scribner
ISBN
ASIN
Language: English

Characters More characters

Gene Forrester

...
Phineas

Genes friend and roommate; an incorrigible, good-natured, carefree, athletic, daredevil type. In Genes opinion, Finny can never leave anything well enough alone and can always get away with anything. He always sees the best in others, seeks in...