About this book
Knowles drew on his own experiences at a New England boarding school in order to write this haunting story about the friendship between Gene and Finny. Effectively polar opposites and yet fiercely devoted to each other, Gene and Finny develop a rivalry that sustains each of them. Gene especially tries to emulate Finny's positive qualities to make himself better. But their friendship takes a dark turn as a result of a rash decision that Gene makes while the two are perched on a tree branch. The fallout and ensuing tragedy haunt Gene for the rest of his life. A Separate Peace is a stirring meditation on adolescence, masculinity, guilt, and friendship.
Knowles's classic is an uneasy coming-of-age, set at a boys' boarding school among the desperately carefree 16-year-olds of 1942: too young, still, to be drafted into the war outside; too old to evade the responsibilities and the guilt that follows from the breaking of their fraught and fragile private bonds.
First line
As the novel opens, Gene Forrester returns to Devon, the New Hampshire boarding school he attended during World War II.
First Edition Identification
Secker & Warburg published the First UK Edition, First Printing hardcover in London, 1959. The Macmillan Company published the First US Edition, First Printing hardcover in New York, 1960.
Details
- Title Separate Peace
- Author John Knowles
- Binding Mass Market Paperbound
- Edition Sixty-eighth Pri
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Bantam Books, New York
- Date December 1, 1984
- ISBN 9780553250527 / 0553250523
- Weight 0.25 lbs (0.11 kg)
- Reading level 1030
- Dewey Decimal Code FIC
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A Separate Peace
by Knowles, John
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- Used - Good with no dust jacket
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A Separate Peace
by Knowles, John
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A Separate Peace
by Knowles, John
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A Separate Peace
by Knowles, John
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A Separate Peace (A Bantam Book)
by Knowles, John; John Knowless
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A Separate Peace
by Knowles, John; John Knowless
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- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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A Separate Peace
by Knowles, John
- Used
- very good
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780553250527 / 0553250523
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Binghamton, New York, United States
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