Gentlemen & Players

Gentlemen & Players
First edition
AuthorJoanne Harris
LanguageEnglish
GenreMystery, Psychological suspense novel
PublisherDoubleday
Publication date
1 October 2005
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages512 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN0-385-60366-5 (first edition, hardback)
OCLC60667909
Followed byDifferent Class 

Gentlemen & Players is a psychological thriller novel by Joanne Harris first published in 2005. Set in the 1990s at St. Oswald's, a grammar school for boys in the North of England, it is the first of three novels featuring the Classics teacher Roy Straitley, who faces a series of incidents at St. Oswald's Grammar School as he considers retirement. Harris drew on her own experiences teaching at an all-boys' grammar school, as well as the Molesworth series and the novel Gormenghast. The novel addresses themes of social class, coming of age and revenge. It was well-received on publication, with reviewers making comparisons with Patricia Highsmith and Terence Rattigan, and was nominated for an Edgar Award in 2006.