Schoolteacher Graham Weir has never recovered from the accusations of cowardice leveled at him from a wartime incident. Now middle-aged and a heavy drinker, his mind is rotted by self-disgust: he is taunted and despised by his pupils, his colleagues, and his acidic wife.
When Graham recognises a likeminded soul in fifteen-year-old Shirley Taylor he offers her extra tuition and an unlikely friendship develops between the two outcasts.
Following a false accusation by another pupil, he is forced to defend himself in court against charges of indecent assault. In the humiliation of a public trial, Graham comes to confront head-on the derision and shame that has surrounded him for his entire adult life and finally recovers the courage of his ideals.
With Term of Trial, James Barlow spins a taut and morally complex tale that became the basis for a 1962 film adaptation starring Laurence Olivier.
'A terrifically good story' - Sunday Times
'A tense and exciting novel on a very serious and topical subject' - Times Literary Supplement
'Term Of Trial is a brilliant account of the dangers that beset those who have to deal with tricky, mixed-up adolescents.' - Fred Urquhart, The July Handicap
'Mr. Barlow is a profoundly serious novelist whose narrative is as fast-moving and tense as a thriller-writer's.' - Evening Standard
'Mr. Barlow has succeeded in presenting in terms of sober naturalism a section of our world that is dealt with all to often in the gutter Press and far too rarely in literature.' - Observer
'Barlow's skill at story-telling is frighteningly real.' - Smiths' Trade News
Genre: Mystery
When Graham recognises a likeminded soul in fifteen-year-old Shirley Taylor he offers her extra tuition and an unlikely friendship develops between the two outcasts.
Following a false accusation by another pupil, he is forced to defend himself in court against charges of indecent assault. In the humiliation of a public trial, Graham comes to confront head-on the derision and shame that has surrounded him for his entire adult life and finally recovers the courage of his ideals.
With Term of Trial, James Barlow spins a taut and morally complex tale that became the basis for a 1962 film adaptation starring Laurence Olivier.
'A terrifically good story' - Sunday Times
'A tense and exciting novel on a very serious and topical subject' - Times Literary Supplement
'Term Of Trial is a brilliant account of the dangers that beset those who have to deal with tricky, mixed-up adolescents.' - Fred Urquhart, The July Handicap
'Mr. Barlow is a profoundly serious novelist whose narrative is as fast-moving and tense as a thriller-writer's.' - Evening Standard
'Mr. Barlow has succeeded in presenting in terms of sober naturalism a section of our world that is dealt with all to often in the gutter Press and far too rarely in literature.' - Observer
'Barlow's skill at story-telling is frighteningly real.' - Smiths' Trade News
Genre: Mystery
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