To those who have never attended a prep or boarding school, the thought of it may seem foreign and shrouded behind a veil of secrecy, while others who have attended may take it for granted, claiming it to be a natural part of their inner world. When I attended Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, a part of me felt I belonged there since I was and still am a lover of all things academia. Although some were there due their family’s academic history, others were there to enjoy being surrounded by such history and intellectual stimulation without being called nerds or geeks by the general populace. It felt like a privilege and not a right.  The unnamed narrator in Joanne Harris’ book Gentlemen and Players felt the same way; in the beginning, the narrator explains to us the strong feelings felt while viewing St. Oswald’s through its iron gates while their father worked as Porter on the school grounds. Behind those gates lay excellence, privilege, and history, things that the narrator had never experienced before during their lower class upbringing. The narrator even admires the school uniforms adorned by the students while those who do wear them are oblivious. From these initial feelings the readers see a character evolve from a fawning and obsessive child to a teenager and later adult filled with hatred fueled by insanity and revenge on those they at first loved and admired. On the opposite end is the book’s other narrator, Roy Straitley, the eccentric Classics professor who has become rather a fixed staple of St. Oswald’s. He teaches his students with an iron fist mixed with quirky Latin phrases aimed at the students, fellow teachers and Headmaster; he belongs to the academic world because he has nothing else.

The book goes back and forth between two narrators, each giving the reader different but no less important views of the school; it is through their observations that create a backdrop against the current mounting scandals slowly destroying the school; one by one, the teachers, like chess pieces, are removed from the playing board through the unnamed narrator who wishes to see the school completely destroyed for their own nefarious reasons. Roy Straitley, caught up in the torrent of school scandal and talks of his own impending retirement, stands firm in remaining at the school and even discovers the ulterior motive of the unnamed narrator with a twist at the very end. Harris, best known for her work Chocolat, creates a skillful chess game in Gentlemen and Players; a game in which the pieces are removed through lies, scandal, and even murder. One player refuses to end the game until all players are removed while the other unknowing player moves towards a truth that will forever change his views about the only world he knows. Harris’ prose, although descriptive, is not laden down with too many adjectives and filler words that lose sight of the plot, nor does she go over her readers’ heads with multi-syllable words that require a dictionary on hand while reading the book.  Although it did take me a while to figure out that there were two narrators instead of one, I thoroughly enjoyed it once the cat and mouse game was made abundantly clear. I also highly recommend this novel to anyone who is an Anglophile (like me!) who enjoys reading an engaging book filled with suspense and treachery set in England. Gentlemen and Players delivers and leaves the reader wanting more, clearly a sign of literary talent and genius. Check and mate.