Mertons is a Prep. School. Although things have been changing in the last fifteen years or so, until the 1970s Prep. Schools were almost invariably single sex, catering for either boys or girls. Mertons is a boys’ school, in which somewhat over half of the pupils are boarders. The fees are high, but on the other hand the educational standards are very high too; almost all of the boys manage to pass their vital Common Entrance examinations to go on to the Public School of their choice at the age of thirteen or fourteen. (Eton, Winchester, Harrow and Rugby are among the best-known English Public Schools, though I have no records of whether Mertons boys have ever gone on to any of these.)
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I should like to pretend that all the characters mentioned in this book are fictitious, but anyone who has been involved in the world of English boarding Prep. Schools will have met many of the types for himself. The best I can do is to say that where I have knowingly borrowed some characteristic, tic or behaviour pattern from any real person, alive or dead, I have added so many other personal details as to make any perceived correspondence between my character and that individual unintentional, imaginary and coincidental. The same applies to Mertons, alas....
Quote:This is among Kochany's better-written offerings, perhaps because, having been published by the Acolyte Press, it benefitted from Frank Torey's editing skills. The PDF is good - far better than most of his self-published works, and the EPUB was prepared (I think) by a member or members of a previpus incarnation of this forum. All that was necessary was to update the stylesheet and the html.
The story is fairly standard. There's a recognisable narrative and storyline to drive it forward, and although there's obviously a lot of sexual activity described, most of it is in a non-threatening and loving context, and where that doesn't apply, the perpetrators get their come-uppance eventually.
We've seen these characters before: the shy new boy, the kind older boy who takes him under his wing, the tart with a heart of gold, the experienced youngsters and the inexperienced, the enthusiastic and the disapproving, the insane Headmaster, the psychopathic staff, as well as the kindly. They're all here.
As far as I know, this is the last of the works published under this nom de plume, but I'd be happy to be proved wrong!
