Only a Crisis Intervention – designed to salvage failing schools – can save it now, which is why Roy Straitley, the eccentric Latin Master and main protagonist of Gentlemen and Players, is (not quite reluctantly) delaying his retirement for one more year. The murder of a schoolboy the loss of the Head and several key members of staff, coupled with a disastrous set of exam results, have brought the place to the brink of ruin. St Oswald’s Grammar School for Boys has been through some rough times over the past year. So technically, this is a trilogy (I’ve always rather liked trilogies) although each story stands alone, and can be read in any order.Ĭlick here for a summary of GENTLEMEN AND PLAYERS. In narrative terms, it also precedes Blueeyedboy, which is set in the area around the school, and it features some of the main characters. It follows on directly from Gentlemen and Players, revisiting St Oswald’s Grammar School (and most of the characters therein) a year after a series of distressing events, which culminated in murder.

Different Class is the third of a series of novels set in the fictional town of Malbry.

Joanne harris author