As Heard On Bbc Radio 4 'a Good Read' 'a Novel That Made Such A Deep Impression On Me At Sixteen That I Can Still Conjure The Atmosphere In My Fifties: Of Yearning, Infatuation Mingled Indistinguishably With Envy, And Remorse' Lionel Shriver An American Coming-of-age Tale During A Period When The Entire Country Was Losing Its Innocence To The Second World War. Set At A Boys' Boarding School In New England During The Early Years Of World War Ii, A Separate Peace Is A Harrowing And Luminous Parable Of The Dark Side Of Adolescence. Gene Is A Lonely, Introverted Intellectual. Phineas Is A Handsome, Taunting, Daredevil Athlete. What Happens Between The Two Friends One Summer, Like The War Itself, Banishes The Innocence Of These Boys And Their World.