A Messiah of the Last Days (1974) was C. J. Driver's fourth novel. A profound meditation on politics and a complex portrait of English society, it is also fast-paced and suspenseful. Its narrator is Tom Grace, a pragmatic, efficient London barrister with a comfortable life. But his ordered world is unsettled by his involvement with a young man he defends in court - John Buckleson, the charismatic leader of an anarchic movement calling themselves The Free People. Though deeply divided in many ways, the two men are drawn to each other by a common dream of creating a new social and moral order. Buckleson, though, is a figure of interest to more people than those who subscribe to his vision. 'C. J. Driver's exceptional alertness to our times is matched by the power and zest of his evocative writing, lit up by wry wit.' Nadine Gordimer.

Following the death of her husband Terry, Mrs Allen takes the vacant post of Matron at the Settlement of St Joseph, founded in the nineteenth century by his grandfather Timothy Xavier Allen to bring to the African Christianity medical attention and elementary education.

Allen has been Terry's inspiration throughout his life, though after the government took control he kept away from St Joseph's for twenty years.

Mrs Allen can understand the uncouthness of Mr Schwartz, the Government Superintendent, but the coldness of Johannes Simbele, the 'African teacher', is more than reserve. As for Dr Redman, though he is clearly good at his job, his manner is flippant, and her suspicions about his relations with Nurse Peters are decisively confirmed.

In this second novel, C. J. Driver, author of Elegy for a Revolutionary, presents a compelling and compassionate study of alturistic idealism overwhelmed by forces it cannot comprehend.

Set in a British public school, C. J. Driver's Death of Fathers is an unflinching exploration of the often painful contradictions to be found in male relationships.

Nigel Westcott is the son of a distinguished and arrogant father, a man both fiercely demanding of and indifferent to his son. But to Galer Detheridge, Nigel's teacher and himself the son of a notable father, Nigel is special; he thinks he understands better than anyone what Nigel needs from a teacher.

But as the story develops, and we grow intimately familiar with the characters and their families, it becomes apparent that Galer cannot help Nigel, or, indeed, himself.

Six young men are arrested in Cape Town for subversion. Successful sabotage requires a high degree of loyalty, mutual confidence and efficiency; and it is an almost unbelievable shock when their betrayer turns out to be the one who has done most to organise and unite them. As the story unfolds, from the inception of the group until the moment of the arrest and the bitterness of the aftermath, the anatomy of the conspiracy is totally exposed - as is the character of the traitor: brilliant, nervy, likeable, perhaps aware all the time that he contains within himself the seeds of his own and others' destruction.

First published in 1969, Elegy for a Revolutionary is a gripping narrative which is at the same time an examination of the nature of loyalty and treachery, both personal and political. It is an immensely impressive and intelligent novel that draws from C. J. Driver's own experience of underground political action in South Africa during the early 1960s.

'. . . it a tribute to his skill that both the people and the setting in "Elegy for a Revolutionary" emerge with immense vividness, that the clash of motives and temperaments among his six anti-apartheid saboteurs seems fresh, real, subtle and touching. Mr Driver weaves his plot intricately, with an almost cinematic technique of cross-cutting and flashback. The growth and decline of the organization and the aftermath of their exposure are revealed in terse and gripping narrative. Mr Driver has restated the liberal dilemma in a way that is all the more discerning, original and intelligent for its careful understatement.' "Times Literary Supplement"

Further C. J. Driver novels including Death of Fathers, Messiah of the Last Days and Send War in Our Time, O Lord will be available through Faber Finds in the coming months.

CJ (Jonty) Driver has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in education in the UK and overseas, including three headships. In this poignant memoir, he provides a compelling insight into school life, with wisdom gained from a lifetime of learning. "Jonty has written an important book which should be read by all who care about schools. No one else has had such a combined impact on politics, schools and literature. It is a remarkable story." Sir Anthony Seldon, recently retired Master of Wellington College.