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God. It's depressing. The inner workings of a headmaster's brain. His wife dies, the school falls apart. Damn.
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The Headmaster's Papers
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John Greeve is the headmaster. The 30 years of his life at The Wells School have been rich, challenging, and full of meaning. But now John Greeve's precisely ordered world is crumbling. The values he so passionately believes in are being threatened by forces he cannot accept. John Greeve is a man at the crossroads fighting for the decency of his school, for the survival of his family--and, finally, stripped of everything, for his very life. This new edition includes a foreword by the author and an afterword in which he presents and comments on some of the nearly 1,000 letters he has received since the original publication of this classic novel a decade ago.PAuthor Biography#58; Richard Hawley is the author of 13 books, including The Headmaster's Poems, Papers from the Headmaster, Boys Will Be Men, and The Headmaster's Wife. He is the headmaster of Cleveland's University School. He lives in Hunting Valley, Ohio.
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Genres
fiction
240 pages, Paperback
First published September 1,2002
This edition
- Format
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240 pages, Paperback
- Published
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September 1, 2002 by Paul S. Eriksson
- ISBN
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9780839731948
- ASIN
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0839731949
- Language
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English
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Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 15 votes)
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15 reviews All reviews
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Terrific story set in a New England boarding school 40 years ago, but very relevant to today … energy awareness, adolescent drug use, aggressive sport parents. Clever format … all letters from main protagonist to a variety of personal and professional constituents.
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Beautiful but impossibly sad
Never a fan of epistolary novels, I was nevertheless entranced by Hawley's accomplishment. Like many of the author's reader-correspondents, I found myself bemused by the novel's conclusion, but utterly transported by the elegance, grace, humor, and virtue of the writing.
Never a fan of epistolary novels, I was nevertheless entranced by Hawley's accomplishment. Like many of the author's reader-correspondents, I found myself bemused by the novel's conclusion, but utterly transported by the elegance, grace, humor, and virtue of the writing.
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I read this 27 years ago and it still haunts me. Written in letters, it is the story of a headmaster, his dying wife and his missing son. One of my all-time favorite books.
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A quiet, perfect little book. Heartbreakingly beautiful.
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I've read it twice. Outstanding work by an author who knows what he writes about. Richard Hawley is a seasoned professional educator- unlike too many authors who choose prep schools for their setting.
I've been a school head too, and so I can vouch for the authenticity of this wonderful book.
I've been a school head too, and so I can vouch for the authenticity of this wonderful book.
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This was the telling of the story of a headmaster of a boy's school in New England, entirely through his letters and papers. I'm afraid I am not a fan of the format, at least of how it was executed by the author. There was a singular lack of dramatic tension, and I had a difficult time motivating myself to keep reading. Basically, it was a written portrait of a character. The character of the headmaster is basically likable. I might even say that I might have liked being in his school when I was in high school. However, the theme of the book was basically, "Wasn't education so much better in the good old days when youth were taught good old fashioned values?" There is certainly truth in that. However, it is not enough of a theme to sustain a novel.
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Interesting approach to telling the story
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