Many books have been written about the horror of boys’ public schools. Comparatively few, however, venture beyond the staff-room door to examine the suffering of masters as well as pupils. Of those that do, there is probably none that captures the wretchedness of their cloistered life more vividly than Mr Perrin and Mr Traill. Based in part on his own experiences as a boarder at King’s School, Canterbury, Walpole reflected that Mr Perrin and Mr Traill was ‘probably the truest’ of all his novels.

TIME magazine article, Monday, June, 11, 1923.

The New York Times Review of the film adaptation, directed by Lawrence Huntingdon, 1948.

Random Jottings blog reviews this title.

Hugh Walpole - Hugh Walpole was born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1884, before moving to England. He wrote a great many books, of which Mr Perrin and Mr Traill was his favourite. He died in London in 1941.

Anthony Gardner - In his role over recent years as Editor of the Royal Society of Literature's annual Review, Anthony Gardner has built a reputation for fine judgment and eclectic scholarship in the field of recent English letters.

The Royal Society of Literature

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By the same author or foreword writer:
The Dark Flower By John Galsworthy;  Anthony Gardner (Introduction)
The Conclave By Michael Bracewell;  Anthony Gardner (Foreword)
Island Pharisees By John Galsworthy;  Anthony Gardner (Foreword)