Excerpt from The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

The local grammar school was one of his aunt's many social causes. She believed in education for all and seemed to expect great leaders of men to emerge from the grubby-kneed group of farmers' and merchants' boys who crowded the new red-brick school building out beyond the railway tracks.

"You mean you want her to get a good look at you," said Hugh. "I'm sure she'll be suitably cowed."

"I'm with the governors," said Daniel. "It takes a man to keep a mob of schoolboys in line."

"Nonsense," said Agatha. "Besides, you can't just drum up teachers these days. Our last Latin master, Mr. Puddlecombe, was only here a year and then he had the nerve to tell us he was off to try his luck with a cousin in Canada." "Well, school had almost broken up for the summer, Auntie," said Hugh.

"Which made it all the more impossible," said Agatha. "We were fortunate that your Uncle John spoke to Lord Marbely and that Lady Marbely had been looking for a position for this young woman. She is a niece apparently, and the Marbelys highly recommended her; though I did get a hint that maybe they had an ulterior motive for getting her out of Gloucestershire."

"Do they have a son?" asked Daniel. "That's usually the story."

"Oh no, Lady Marbely took pains to assure me she's quite plain," said Aunt Agatha. "I may be progressive, but I would never hire a pretty teacher."

"We'd better eat dinner soon," said Hugh, consulting the battered pocket watch that had been his grandfather's and that his parents were always begging to replace with something more modern. The dinner gong rang just as he spoke.

"Yes, I'd like to digest properly before this paragon descends upon us," said Daniel, downing the rest of his glass in a swallow. "I assume I have to be introduced and can't just hide in my room?"

"Would you go with Smith to pick her up, Hugh?" said Agatha.

"Two of you would probably overwhelm the poor girl, and obviously I can't trust Daniel not to sneer at her."

What if Hugh falls in love with her?" asked Daniel. Hugh was tempted to retort that his affections were already engaged, but his matrimonial intentions were too important to be subjected to Daniel's disrespectful teasing, and so he merely gave his cousin a look of scorn. "After all," added Daniel, "Hugh is so terribly plain himself."

Excerpted from The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson. Copyright © 2016 by Helen Simonson. Excerpted by permission of Random House, A Penguin Random House Company. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.