by C. P. Snow
First published 1985
Lewis Eliot watches the Master of his Cambridge college slip toward death. The old man's approaching end sets the fellows against each other in a bitter contest for succession. Colleagues who once shared meals and scholarly debates now scheme in corridors and form secret alliances. The election campaign divides the entire college community. Friends turn into rivals as each faction pushes their candidate forward. Eliot finds himself caught between competing loyalties as the political maneuvering grows more vicious. The struggle reveals how quickly civilized academics can abandon their principles when power comes within reach. What began as a collegial community becomes a battlefield where personal ambitions override decades of friendship and mutual respect.
Genres: fiction, drama, 20th-century, contemporary, british-literature, college, academia, academic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, power-dynamics
Setting: Cambridge
Period: 20th-century
384 pages · Paperback · MacMillan Publishing Company.