The Headmaster: The Second Part of To Serve Them all My Days

To Serve Them All My Days #2

by R.F. Delderfield

Part One Of Two Parts TO SERVE THEM ALL MY DAYS is R.F. Delderfield's epic study of life at an English boarding school between the two wars. It is a story related by David Powlett-Jones, the son of a Welsh miner, whose father and brother died in a pit accident, a socialist whose politics mellow as he ages. The victim of severe shell-shock after three nightmarish years of service in the battlefields of WW I, David is advised by a doctor to take up a teaching post at Bamfylde School in the rural south west of England. Not least, TO SERVE THEM ALL MY DAYS provides behind-the-scenes glimpses of the struggles for power that rage in an enclosed environment where personalities must inevitably clash.

520 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Ronald Frederick Delderfield was a popular English novelist and dramatist, many of whose works have been adapted for television and are still widely read.

Several of Delderfield's historical novels and series involve young men who return from war and lead lives in England that allow the author to portray the sweep of English history and delve deeply into social history from the Edwardian era to the early 1960s.

From Wikipedia

Reviews

[Susan's Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

See my review of the first part of this series.

[Outlander · Rating 5 out of 5]

My only criticism of these books (no 1 Late Spring and the following book, no 2 The Headmaster) is that it's so very obviously written by an Englishman as opposed to a Brit - a distinction that eludes the English in general and is always clearly seen by the Welsh, Irish and Scots.

When I was about 2 chapters in I thought is was just a rehash of James Hilton's 'Goodbye Mr Chips' which was set from the end of Victoria's reign till the end of Mr Chips life, but it's a different message. As a slice of fiction it's also a slightly dated 'stiff upper lip' tale but with a winner of a message of history repeating itself down the ages and primarily that war is not all glory but an abomination. It's not fashionable to say that the world is heading down the same road as the time of the novel(s), but the world is doing just that, right now.

[Jay Dewey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book when I first read it, especially because it tells on a fine teacher who eventually becomes headmaster of his boarding school in England. It also portrays the ability of students, still in their teens, to step forward in times of great need.
However, I could not finish my second reading. Somehow Delderfield's style of writing now offends my own sense of what I like. It seemed stodgy and dense.

[Mary Stagg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super second part to the story. It moves over the 1930's and into war time with a very satisfying joining of the circle at the end. Davy has another happy marriage, he becomes headmaster, has a son, grows the school, introduces a prep section, takes in a refugee and another school. Its great, beautifully written.

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both great reads.