School Days

From the renowned president of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, a coming-of-age tale of privilege and hidden sexuality at a New England boys' boarding school.

Sam has spent more than half his life at the prestigious Leverett high school, which lies at the heart of an affluent Connecticut town of the same name. First as a student in the late 1960s, before coeducation, then as an English teacher after Harvard and Oxford, he developed a keen sense of loyalty to this vaunted institution that shaped his identity. But when the headmaster reveals that a former classmate of Sam's has raised allegations of long-concealed sexual abuse, Sam finds himself reliving those formative years, forced to confront the dark underside of a seemingly enviable world of wealth and intellect.

Telling the story of a brilliant teacher whose mysterious behavior fascinates his students until charges against him begin to emerge, School Days deftly navigates the politics of social circles and fraught crushes. With this latest novel, critically acclaimed writer and publisher Jonathan Galassi provides a nuanced, deeply observed portrait of a particular type of American meritocracy, with all its flaws.