The place is St Oswald’s, an old and long-established boys’ grammar school in the north of England. A new year has just begun, and for thstaff and boys of the school a wind of unwelcome change is blowing. Suits, paperwork and Information Technology rule the world; and Roy Straitley, Latin master, eccentric, and veteran of St Oswald’s, is finally. - reluctantly - contemplating retirement. But beneath the little rivalries, petty disputes and everyday crises of the school, a darker undercurrent stirs. And a bitter grudge, hidden and carefully nurtured for thirteen years, is about to erupt.
Who is ‘Mole’, the mysterious insider whose cruel practical jokes are gradually escalating towards violence - and perhaps murder? And how can an old and half-forgotten scandal become the stone that brings down a giant?
