A Prefect’s Uncle

At Beckford College, Gethryn is a respected prefect and captain of cricket, until his life is upended by the arrival of a new junior boy who happens to be his own uncle, four years his junior and twice as much trouble. When young Farnie’s scrapes escalate to stolen money and broken bounds, Gethryn is caught between his authority as head of the house and his awkward loyalty to family. Published in 1903, this is one of the school stories Wodehouse wrote before he found Jeeves and Blandings, and it runs on cricket matches, dormitory politics, and the code of honour that governed the Edwardian public school. The comedy is gentler than his later work, but the ear for schoolboy talk is already sharp. Read it free as a PDF or EPUB edition.