Headmaster's Papers

by Richard A. Hawley

Book Overview

John Greeve is the headmaster. The 30 years of his life at The Wells School have been rich, challenging, and full of meaning. But now John Greeve's precisely ordered world is crumbling. The values he... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553341111
• ISBN13: 9780553341119
• Release Date: October 1984
• Publisher: Bantam Books
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Poignant and lovely

This is an epistolary novel, which means that it is composed entirely of a series of letters. It's told from the point of view of boys' school headmaster John Greeve, who writes letters to family, friends, colleagues, and the parents of students over the course of one school year. Letters from John provide an interesting point of view. Events can only be described as he writes about them to other people, so reading the novel is a little like catching up with a friend periodically. Nothing happens in real time. The reader discovers everything after the fact, and only learns about it in terms of the headmaster's view of the situation. It is a unique perspective and, although it takes a little longer to be drawn into the book, one learns a great deal more about the main character because of the perspective. Over the course of the novel, Mr. Greeve's life all but falls apart. It's heartbreaking to see so many terrible things happen to someone who is so inherently good. But he maintains his dignity throughout. I appreciated John's integrity. He stood firm on an issue he believed in, and was polite but unwavering when necessary. I had a lot of respect for many of the letters he wrote to colleagues and parents about happenings at the school. This book should have been depressing. The main character has to face ordeal after ordeal, and in the end, the trials undo him. But it wasn't. It was sad, yes, and very poignant. But I was able to find hopefulness and honor in a man who is so dignified in the face of his trials.

A powerful saga of courage and adapting to the unexpected

The Headmaster's Papers by Richard A. Hawley is the literate and engaging story of John Greeve, headmaster for a small, independent New England boys' school, whose personal and professional life begins to disintegrate around him. Faced with the crumbling of his meticulously ordered routine, Greeve must accept the challenge and fight for his school, his family, and even his own life. Originally published almost twenty years ago, Richard Hawley's The Headmaster's Papers continues to be very highly recommended as a powerful saga of courage and adapting to the unexpected.