The Rector of Justin (Modern Library)

About this book

Louis Auchincloss has been celebrated as one of the best American novelists of our time. The Rector of Justin originally published in 1964 is widely considered to be his most ambitious novel and his greatest achievement. The terrain is familiar vintage Auchincloss in its astute dissection of the social mores of the Northeasts privileged establishment. The story centers on a prestigious Episcopal school for boys and its commanding charismatic founder Frank Prescott a man whose lifelong goal was to head such a school. With laser-sharp insight Auchincloss portrays the evolution of this man and the sources of his virtues and failings his successes and his crises of faith. Seamlessly interweaving multiple points of viewfrom an adoring teacher to that of a rebellious daughterAuchincloss captures the brilliant totality of a man. Through the personalities and memories of six intense observers a psychologically complex social history of the eighty years of his life emerges. This new edition contains an Afterword by the author.