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SCHOOL STORIES BY DESMOND COKE
The Bending of a Twig
Illustrated in Colour by H. M. BROCK.
When "The Bending of a Twig" was first published it was hailed bycompetent critics as the finest school story that had appeared since"Tom Brown." It is a vivid picture of life in a modern public school.The hero, Lycidas Marsh, enters Shrewsbury without having previouslybeen to a preparatory school, drawing his ideas of school life from hisimagination and a number of school stories he has read. How Lycidasfinds his true level in this new world and worthily maintains theSalopian tradition is the theme of this most entrancing book.
"A real, live school story that carries conviction in everyline."--_Standard_.
"Mr. Desmond Coke has given us one of the best accounts of public schoollife that we possess.... Among books of its kind 'The Bending of aTwig' deserves to become a classic."--_Outlook_.
The School Across the Road
Illustrated in Colour by H. M. BROCK.
The incidents of this story arise out of the uniting of twoschools--"Warner's" and "Corunna"--under the name of "Winton," a namewhich the head master fondly hopes will become known far and wide as agreat seat of learning. Unfortunately for the head master's ambition,however, the two sets of boys--hitherto rivals and enemies, nowschoolfellows--do not take kindly to one another. Warner's men of mightare discredited in the new school; Henderson, lately head boy, findshimself a mere nobody; while the inoffensive Dove is exalted and madeprefect by reason of his attainments in class work. There is discordand insurrection and talk of expulsion, and the feud drags on until therival factions have an opportunity of uniting against a common enemy.Then, in the enthusiasm aroused by the overthrow of a neighbouringagricultural college, the bitterness between them dies away, and thefuture of Winton is assured.
"This tale is told with a remarkable spirit, and all the boys are real,everyday characters drawn without exaggeration."--_British Weekly_.
The House Prefect
Illustrated in Colour by H. M. BROCK.
This story of the life at Seiton, a great English public school, mainlyrevolves around the trouble in which Bob Manders, new-made houseprefect, finds himself, owing to a former alliance with the two wildspirits whom, in the interests of the house, it is now his chief task tosuppress. In particular does the spirited exploit with which itopens--the whitewashing by night of a town statue and the smashing ofcertain school property--raise itself against him, next term, when hehas been set in authority. His two former friends persist in stillregarding him as an ally, bound to them by their common secret; and, ina sense, he is attracted to their enterprises, for in becoming prefecthe does not cease to be a boy. It is a great duel this, fought in thestudies, the dormitories, upon the field.
"Quite one of the books of the season. Mr. Desmond Coke has provedhimself a master."--_World_.
"Quite the best school story of the year."--_Morning Leader_.