This acclaimed but rather disturbing story from Graham Greene is set in the aftermath of World War 2. A group of boys known as the Wormsley Common Gang meet daily to plan acts of mischief around London. A new member successfully challenges the leader and, in suggesting the destruction of an old man’s stately two-hundred-year-old house, elevates their mischief from harmless fun to wanton vandalism and cruelty. The major theme of the story is class (rebellion against the pre-war materialistic social order, as symbolized by the house). Other themes: innocence, the quest for and misuse of power, cruelty.
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