The Masters

Winner of the James Tait Black Prize: An "engrossing" novel of power, politics, and academic rivalry in 1930s England (The New York Times).

In 1937, the dark cloud of Nazi Germany hangs over Europe. Meanwhile, barrister Lewis Eliot is comfortably settled at Cambridge College, which is currently astir thanks to the imminent death of an ailing master. Little does the dying master know that two men are already jockeying for his position. Eliot and his crowd are in Jago's corner against his rival, Crawford, who holds a principled stand against Hitler but is lacking in social skills. The political maneuvering grows ever fiercer, and even in these hallowed halls of learning, the hunger for power can overwhelm all common sense.


"A faithful portrayal of English college life." —Kirkus Reviews

"The Masters not only portrays a power structure in microcosm but is tantalizingly told—perhaps the most engrossing academic novel in English." —The New York Times

"Lucid, compelling . . . generous in its fullness." —New Statesman