The Headmaster's Dilemma

September 10, 2007
Auchincloss sets his sights on a big, familiar target: the rich and shallow elite, and the peculiar troubles specific to them. In this case, the setting is Averhill, a New England boarding school. It's 1975, and headmaster Michael Sayre has a crisis on his hands: there's been a homosexual assault in the boy's dorm. His attempt to handle the matter quietly and fairly plays directly into the hands of sinister Donald Spencer, Michael's old classmate, chief nemesis and chairman of the board of trustees. Determined to ruin Michael's efforts to transform Averhill into a progressive institution (Michael initiates co-education, among other reforms), Donald foments outrage among the parents of the two boys involved and plots to force Michael's resignation and return Averhill to its stodgy old ways. The narrative flows smoothly, but the prose-especially dialogue-is pockmarked with linguistic anachronisms ("all wet," "pinkos," "what a lark!"), as if the novel has been sitting in a drawer for 50 years and underwent a hurried updating. Though old-fashioned feeling, this newest offering from a veteran writer (Auchincloss has published more than 60 books) entertains with its depiction of American aristocrats.

August 1, 2007
This is an effortlessly masterful novel from a legend in American letters who has spent his career chronicling the morally complex lives of New York's wealthy leisure class. Like his 1964 novel, "The Rector of Justin", it's set at an elite prep school in the Northeast, and at its heart is an ugly incident involving a sexual assault in a boys' dormitory. This event ignites a dangerous conflict between two old rivals working at the schoolthe progressive headmaster, Michael Sayre, and the ambitious, vindictive chair of the Trustees, Donald Spencer. Spencer, who has sustained a long and quarrelsome history with Sayre, attempts to use the fallout from this incident to force the headmaster to resign. The characters here are all superbly drawn, from the unscrupulous Spencer to the tragically vulnerable young man who is assaulted. Auchincloss fearlessly examines the adolescent culture of bullying and sexual predation at this prestigious school. He also depicts the moral, political, and legal challenges faced by the valiant headmaster with extraordinary sympathy and insight. Recommended for all libraries. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 5/15/07.]Patrick Sullivan, Manchester Community Coll., CT

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2007
New England prep school Averhill, a bastion of traditional WASP values, is changing with the times (its the 1970s), thanks in large part tothe popular and progressive headmaster Michael Sayre. Among his many assets iswife Ione, who, although she gave up her own career in law and now feels adrift, is steadfastly supportive. But Michael runs afoul of Donald Spencer, a member of the board of trustees, who wants to donate a grandiose sports complex. A former classmate, Spencer always resented the ease with which good fortune seems to attach itself to Michael, and dislikes the modernizations at the school. An opportunity tobring about the headmasters downfall seems to present itself whena scandal erupts over a sexual incident involving two students, and parents and faculty start toquestion Michaels fitness for his role. The reliable Auchincloss may seem quaint at times, but he has an audiencefor his careful documentation of a rarefied world of manicured lawns and moral quandaries.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)