For generations, elite young men have attended St. Oswald's School for Boys, groomed for success by the likes of Roy Straitley, the eccentric classics teacher who has been a revered fixture for more than 30 years. Contemplating retirement, he is joined this term by five new faculty members, including one who-unknown to Straitley and everyone else-hold intimate and dangerous knowledge of St. Oswald's ways and secrets. Harboring dark ties to the school's past, this young teacher has arrived with one terrible goal: destroy St. Oswald's. Told in alternating voices, Gentlemen & Players is a riveting, hypnotically atmospheric novel of suspense that showcases Joanne Harris's astonishing storytelling talent.