A Separate Peace

A Separate Peace by John Knowles takes place during the second World War at Devon School, a boys' preparatory academy in New England. Here on the homefront, the war doesn't seem very real. Sure, there are rations, and the seniors are being scheduled for physical training regimens to prepare them for enlistment after graduation - but in the lazy, carefree Summer session, the idea of war seems very distant to the other students. Especially to Phineas.

Finny is athletic and charming - he can talk his way out of any potential trouble, even when he doesn't really make any sense. His friend and roommate (and our narrator), Gene, is booksmart and reserved - he tries to be a good student and to follow the rules, but Finny always seems to get his way. There is something about him that is impossible to resist. That's what started it - just a tiny spark of jealousy, of resentment - and an accident in a tree on the school grounds changes everything.

Or was it an accident?

Either way, things will never be the same again - for any of them.