A Separate Peace is a novel by John Knowles

John Knowles

John Knowles was an American novelist best known for his novel A Separate Peace. He died in 2001 at the age of seventy-five.-Early life:...

. Based on his earlier short story "Phineas", it was Knowles' first published novel and became his best-known work.
Gene Forrester, the protagonist, returns to his old prep school, Devon (a thinly-veiled portrayal of Knowles' own alma mater, Phillips Exeter Academy

Phillips Exeter Academy

Phillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking...

), fourteen years after he graduated to visit two places he regards as "fearful sites:" a flight of marble stairs and a tree by the river.