Joan And Peter: H.G. Wells

[poliphilo]

A novel of ideas (about education primarily) which runs from 1893 to 1918 (which was the present day at the time of writing.) A disfigured ex-soldier takes on the guardianship of a boy and girl- and sees them through school, university, rackety adolescence and the Great War. Wells is liable at any time to go off on one (as were Balzac and Tolstoy) but the characters are lively and engaging and the story is strong enough to carry its freight of theory.