England, 1945: while still a boy, Paul Elliott loses his parents in a car accident. Whisked away to West Yorkshire from his home in High Wycombe, Paul finds a new home with his father's brother, Don, the headmaster of Oxton House, a small preparatory school. Despite some setbacks, Paul quickly encounters academic success, setting him on a trajectory that will see him become, by his mid-twenties, Don's presumed successor at the school.
In the ensuing...