Tim is a delicate child whose life is dominated by two impulses - his guilt at his inability to connect with his distant father and his passionate friendship for Carol, an older boy who lives nearby. When he is sent to Eton, Tim's relationships with both these figures are tested to the full.
Orginally published anonymously in 1891, Howard Overton Sturgis's wistful coming-of-age novel was acclaimed by E.M. Forster and A.C. Benson for its portrait of unrequited young love.