Set against the backdrop of World War II, A Separate Peace explores morality, patriotism, and loss of innocence through its narrator, Gene Forrester, in his relationship with classmate and friend Phineas.

The best study guide to A Separate Peace on the planet, from the creators of SparkNotes. Get the summaries, analysis, and quotes you need.

A Separate Peace is a coming-of-age story set in a boarding school in Massachusetts in 1942-43. When the story opens, Phineas and Gene are sixteen year old boys, enjoying the last summer of innocence …

Over the years, A Separate Peace has also been adapted into various stage productions, solidifying its status as a literary classic. Read the full plot summary, an in-depth character analysis of Finny, and …

In the late 1950s, 15 years after graduation, Gene Forrester returns to Devon, an elite prep school in New Hampshire. Walking through the campus in the cold November mist, Gene remembers his …

A Separate Peace, novel by John Knowles, published in 1959. It recalls with psychological insight the maturing of a 16-year-old student at a New England preparatory school during World War II.

John Knowles's novel, A Separate Peace, follows Gene Forrester as he revisits his alma mater, Devon School, after fifteen years. This journey stirs memories of his intense and complicated...

Set in a New England prep school during World War II, the book follows two boys, Gene and Phineas, who navigate jealousy, betrayal, and the impact of war on their lives. A Separate Peace, published in …

Set at a boys' boarding school in New England during the early years of World War II, A Separate Peace is a harrowing and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence.

A semi-autobiographical book based on Knowles’s boyhood tenure at Exeter in New Hampshire, A Separate Peace raises questions of loyalty, friendship, and the valorization of war. The novel …