Does anyone know the name of this book?

Question

I read this book at high school: Set during the first world war, it told the story about choirboys from an English public school who went to war. It focused on the class system before and after the war and what became of the boys - I remember that one suffers shell shock and commits suicide at the end and another has gas poisoning.... I'd love to know the title or author so I can read it again!

Thanks, but I know it's not Lord of the Flys :)

thanks again for all the answers so far.... it's about ten years since I read it at school and can't remember any character names either :(

Answer 1

I've been at work Googling possibilities for over an hour and I have nothing. The only thing I could recommend is that you talk to your old teacher and ask him what book he assigned, it'll probably sound familiar to him. That or ask other students that were in your class. In all of my searching there were a lot of poetry books that popped up. I'm sure it's not poetry, but is there anything else you can remember about the book that would help? Is it fiction? Do you know a time period for when it was published? Any character names?

Answer 2

You don't mean A Separate Peace, or All Quiet on the Western Front, do you? Neither are perfect matches, but deal with similar issues.

Answer 3

Could it be " To serve them all our ( my ) days " that has the basic theme but I'm not sure about the choirboys. Sorry not to be more help.

Answer 4

Is it Birdsong?

Answer 5

Lord of the Flies

Answer 6

I think you are thinking of "Lord of the Flies". But I could be off....

A synopsis:
A group of English schoolboys, stamped through with Britishness like seaside rocks and educated by public schools in a system designed to overwhelm and empire, are dropped on an uninhabitated island in the Pacific or Indian Ocean. This happens after an atomic bomb attack on England. The boys between six and twelve years old have been evacuated by aeroplane. The plane goes down in flames with the consequence that nobody in the world knows where they are. On this Eden-like island they are confronted with he task of survival.
Two boys Ralph and Piggy meet on the beach of a lagoon, where the latter finds a conch-shell. Piggy thinks that there are other boys alive and wants to organize them. When Ralph uses this shell, soon boys begin to answer Ralph’s call. Immediately Piggy begins to ask for names and tries to remember them.
There is also a number of choir-boys, alle dressed alike.Their leader Jack wants to become the leader, but the majority of the boys vote for Ralph. In order to gain Jack’s support, Ralph suggests that the choir-boys can be hunters under Jack’s leadership and provide all of them with meat. Ralph, Piggy, Simon and the twins Sam and Eric, and some other boys are to build shelters against the rain and the wind.
Ralph, Jack and Simon decide to go on an expedition to see if the place is an island or not. On their way up to the mountain, they come upon a wild piglet, that Jack wants to kill. However he hesitates too long and the piglet escapes. When they are back, the group has again a meeting with the purpose to establish some rules, because it is clear now that they are on an island and that they must look after themselves. Jack is delighted by the idea of punishing those who break the rules. Piggy tries to give sensible advice but no one listens. When one of the little boys tells about a beast he has seen, all the boys begin to feel somewhat uneasy. At the meeting Ralph says that they will have to make a fire on the mountain top as a signal for ships and planes. So they do and as they have no matches to light the huge pile of wood the glasses of Piggy are used.
Soon the island develops into a routine, they play together and suffer from diarrhoea. Jack and his hunters paint their faces because they think that the piggs will not see them so quickly, but their painted faces excite them and they behave like little savages when they start hunting again.
Things are going wrong on the island. Ralph and Piggy are dismayed to find a ship passing the island without noticing them. Ralph accuses Jack of having neglected his duty because the fire on the mountaintop is out. Jack works off his anger by hitting Piggy’s face, one of his glasses breaks.
Later that day the boys have a feast but Jack refuses to give Piggy any meat. Simon shares his piece with Piggy. After the meal the hunters start dancing in a savage way, reacting the killing of the pig. After a while Ralph announces a meeting and walks down to the beach. He realizes that this meeting must be effective, otherwise the boys will lose all discipline. Ralph severely criticises them for not obeying the most elementary rules for giving up soon if a task no longer considered pleasant. He explains again how important the fire is and talks fear and when one boy after another talks about terrifying dreams and experiences, Ralph realizes that he has lost control of the group. Jack opens rebels and says he will not obey any rules. He leads all the boys away. Only Ralph, Piggy and Simons stay behind.

One night while the boys are asleep an airman comes down by parachute, dead. In order to find if the dark shape spotted by Sam and Eric is really the Beast, Ralph and Jack, whose antogonism is steadily rising, set out for an investigation. When they see the dim ouline of the corps held by the parachute, moved by the breeze and facing them with a horrible grin, they mistake it for some huge ape and flee in terror.
The confirmation of their worst fears is the cause of further trouble. Jack declares himself chief of an independent tribe of hunters. In spite of himself Ralph joins them in a pighunt. Killing a sow in a wild orgy of blood and primitive ritual they leave its head in the jungle as a peace-offering to the Beast. When Simon, weak and feverish, withdraws into his secret refuge in the jungle, the head seems to be speaking to him. It tells him that the Beast is the product of the boys’s fear that the evil is within themselves. When the head seems to open his huge mouth to devour him, Simon faints. Regaining consciousness Simons climbs the hill-top and discovers that the Beast is just the dead body of the man.
He runs down to the beach to tell the others the goods news. Jack and his savages have just eaten the roasted meat of the pig and are now celebrating the kill with a primitive dance, chanting their huntings-songs. When Simon staggers into their midst and dropps on all fours, the frenzied dancers take him to the Beast. While a terrible thunderstorm breaks over the island, they beat, tear and claw him to death.
Jack and his tribe fortify themselves on a high cliff, leaving the beach to Ralph, Piggy and the others. Needing Piggy’s remaining glass to make fire, Jack’s savages attack them at night and carry it off. The next morning Ralph and Jack face each other for the final show-down. Piggy is killed by a rock, which roger heaves off the cliff. The cronch in Piggy’s hand is shattered by the rock. Sam and Eric are forced to join Jack’s tribe. All alone now, Ralph is hunted by the savages who are out for his blood. Just as they are about to kill him, a British cruiser comes to rescue. As if by magic, the bloodthirsty hunters are transformed into the little boys they used to be.
The officer is shocked when he learns that two boys have been killed and that the boys have been acting like savages. When Ralph thinks of what has happened and that he is safe now, he starts crying. Soon the other boys, who have come nearer, start crying too.
SHORT OUTLINE SECONDARY LITERATURE: Lord of the Flies