To Serve Them All My Days

 Delderfield, R.F.. To Serve Them All My Days. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1972. Print

First Sentences:

The guard at Exeter warned him he would have to change at Dulverton to pick up the westbound train to Bamfylde Bridge Halt, the nearest railhead to the school, but did not add that the wait between trains was an hour.

It was one of those trivial circumstances that played a part in the healing process of the years ahead, for the interval on that deserted platform, set down in a rural wilderness, and buttressed by heavily timbered hills where spring lay in ambush, gave Powlett-Jones an opportunity to focus his thoughts in a way he had been unable to do for months, since the moment he had emerged from the dugout and paused, rubbing sleep from his eyes, to glance left and right down thee trench.

Description:

When I began The First Sentence Reader blog, one of my first choices of books to make sure that every one of my reader knew about was R.F. Delderfield's To Serve Them All My Days. Now, three years and over 300 book recommendations later, I am finally getting around to telling you about this wonderful novel.

This book has everything I want in a great read: strong, personable characters; interesting setting; compelling plot; and honest, straightforward writing. It tells the story of David Powlett-Jones, a shell-shocked survivor of the World War I trenches in France. There he was severely shaken by a mortar blast and forced to recover in a hospital for months. P-J, at the urging of his doctor, applies to the English boys school, Bamfylde, under the able leadership of the Rev. Algy Herris. With no experience teaching but finding the clear air and quiet were immediately clearing the fog and lingering fears in his brain, the young Powlett-Jones takes a history teaching position at Herris' school and the story begins.

Here you could almost reach out an touch the quiet. It was a living thing that seemed to catch its breath up there in the hanging woods and then, at a wordless command, slip down the long hillside and gust over the rails to lose itself in the wood opposite. Its touch was gentle and healing, passing over his scar tissue like the fingers of a woman.

The Bamfyld staff has been pulled together helter-skelter due to the enlistment of every other able man into the English war effort. Aged, old-school teachers are coaxed from retirement to work alongside war dodgers and those rejected for physical or mental shortcomings. The school is filled with privileged boys ready to challenge any new teacher, so P-J, a former miner's son, knows he has his work cut out for him.

But under the headmaster's loose but purposeful guidance, P-J begins to blossom into a solid, popular teacher. Nicknamed "Pow-Wow" by the boys for his tendency to talk things over in class and listen to the opinions of the boys, he becomes a rarity in the age of memorization and the punishment cane.

The school and boys begin to grow on P-J and slowly the horrifying sights and tragedies from the French trenches begin to fall from his consciousness. Love enters his life, as does tragedy. He shows quick-thinking in classrooms, faculty lounges, and several emergency situations involving life and death for several boys.

In all, To Serve Them All My Days gets my highest recommendation. Don't be put off that it is a fairly long book. It will bring you to a place that is welcoming, challenging, intelligent, cozy and loving. You won't want to leave that environment or its characters which you have grown to admire and love. Please read it soon.

Happy reading. 

Fred

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

McCourt, Frank Teacher Man.   

Memoirs of Pulitzer Prize-winner McCourt recalls his three decades of teaching English in New York cities inner-city schools. As an Irish immigrant facing thousands of not-so-eager "students", he faces real world challenges each day, many of which he fails to overcome. But when he succeeds with telling them stories of his life in Ireland or sees the flicker of a student's respect, he is inspired to keep teaching. Extremely personable and well-written.