The Go-Between
The Go-Between is a 1953 novel by English author L. P. Hartley, centered on the reminiscences of protagonist Leo Colston about a transformative summer in 1900.[1] As a 12-year-old middle-class boy visiting the opulent Norfolk estate of Brandham Hall—home to his wealthier schoolfriend Marcus Maudsley—Leo is drawn into acting as unwitting messenger for an illicit affair between Marian Maudsley, Marcus's engaged elder sister, and Ted Burgess, a virile tenant farmer, exposing him to adult secrets and class tensions.[2] The narrative culminates in a tragic harvest-time denouement that shatters Leo's innocence, shaping his subsequent emotional repression and aversion to intimacy. Published by Hamish Hamilton, the book achieved immediate critical and commercial success, earning the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and establishing Hartley as a master of psychological realism.[3] Its iconic opening—"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there"—encapsulates themes of memory, social hierarchy, and the clash between Victorian restraint and emerging modern sensibilities, themes that resonate through adaptations including Joseph Losey's 1971 film starring Julie Christie and Alan Bates.[1]Publication and Historical Context
Author Background
Leslie Poles Hartley was born on December 30, 1895, in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, England, to H. S. T. Hartley, a solicitor and brickworks owner, and his wife Bessie.[4] His upbringing in a middle-class family with strong religious influences occurred during the Edwardian era, a period of relative social stability that later informed the historical setting of his novel The Go-Between. Hartley attended preparatory schools before enrolling at Harrow School in 1910, where he developed an interest in literature amid the rigid class structures of English public schooling.[5] Hartley's higher education at Balliol College, Oxford, began in 1915 but was interrupted by World War I service in the army, during which he experienced minimal combat but contracted German measles, affecting his health long-term. He resumed studies postwar, graduating in 1921 with a focus on history and modern literature. Throughout the 1920s, Hartley established himself as a literary critic, reviewing fiction for periodicals such as The Spectator and Saturday Review, while publishing early short stories in outlets like Oxford Poetry.[6] This period honed his psychological insight into social manners, a hallmark of his fiction.[7] Hartley's novelistic career gained prominence after World War II, with The Go-Between (1953) marking his breakthrough, earning the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for its exploration of innocence lost amid class and sexual taboos. Over six decades, he produced eighteen novels and six short story collections, often drawing on autobiographical elements of repression and Edwardian nostalgia, though he remained discreet about his personal life, including his homosexuality, which contemporaries inferred from his unmarried status and thematic preoccupations. Hartley received the CBE in 1956 and died on December 13, 1972, in London.[1][8]Composition and Initial Release
L. P. Hartley composed The Go-Between in 1952, completing the first draft by October of that year.[9] The novel drew from Hartley's reflections on Edwardian social norms and personal experiences of class and repression, though he maintained a measured distance in its autobiographical elements.[1] Published in early 1953 by Hamish Hamilton in London, the book appeared as a first edition in hardcover and was chosen as a Book Society recommendation, aiding its prompt distribution.[10][11] An American edition followed in 1954 from Alfred A. Knopf.[12] The work received immediate critical acclaim for its narrative sophistication and thematic depth, establishing it as Hartley's most enduring novel.[9]