‘Gentlemen & Players’ by Joanne Harris
Published by Black Swan  June 2006. ISBN 0-552-77002-7

 Joanna Harris’s novel is set in the fictional school of St Oswald’s Grammar School for boys and  is narrated by two different people.  One of the narrators is the Latin master Roy Straitley who is just beginning his one hundredth term at the school. The second narrator is more ominous.  Whilst he is anonymous the only thing that we do know is that he does in fact have connections to the school. He is in fact the son of a previous caretaker.  Even though he did not attend the school himself, St Oswald’s did have a significant effect on him.  He is now back for revenge and as the story is told it is interspersed with flashbacks of his memories of the school.

Gentleman & Players is actually a rather intriguing tale and not solely because we the reader do not find out the name of the anonymous narrator is until the very end.  From the start where we are given an insinuating hint of a murder to the end where all is revealed Harris has in fact written a rather disquieting moral tale. It does also have a convoluted plot but it is this complex plot that keeps one interested in the story along with the machinations that take place between the classicist Straitley and the anonymous narrator.  Gentleman & Players is a story that will not only intrigue you but will also give you a good behind the scenes look at school politics.

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Ayo Onatade