The Hole

It was the end of term at Our Glorious School. Rather than going home or joining the geography field trip, a group of sixth-formers embark on what their charismatic friend and mentor Martyn calls “an experiment with real life”. He locks them up in a forgotten, windowless cellar below the deserted school with a three-day supply of food and booze. When the three days are up, Martyn is supposed to release them. At first it’s all a laugh, a game, a joke. But three days go by and they wait, but Martyn does not come…

[A] COMPELLING PSYCHOLOGICAL TALE . . . A QUICK AND INTRIGUING BOOK WITH A TRULY SATISFYING ENDING.
Publishers Weekly

On a spring day in England, six teenagers venture to a neglected part of their school where there is a door to a small windowless cellar. Behind the door, the old stairs have rotted away.

Publishers Weekly

First published in England in 1993, and written when Burt was 18 years old, this slight but compelling psychological tale is set at an unnamed British private school. On a day when most of the students are off on a field trip, devious Martyn, the architect of a series of ever-escalating practical jokes, sets in motion his biggest prank of all, one that he envisions as an experiment in real life. An abandoned cellar lies in a rarely used area of the school. Martyn lures five students into this empty hole and locks them in with the promise that he will release them in three days. When they come out, it will be a prank none of the school officials will ever forget. While waiting for their release, the five teenagers talk about all aspects of their lives, including personal hopes and fears. As the third day comes and goes, they realize no one is coming to release them. Isolation and abandonment sink in, and the students begin resorting to desperate measures. The story is conveyed in two voices; a third-person narrator describing the ordeal and the first-person account of Liz, a survivor writing as part of her ongoing therapy. While not a classic like The Lord of the Flies, this novel is a quick and intriguing book with a truly satisfying ending. (Oct.) Forecast: If the film version of The Hole ever makes it to these shores it opened in London in April 2001 and stars Thora Birch this could be a seller, but till then, readers may balk at the relatively high price of this extra-slim fiction. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Guy Burt won the W. H. Smith Young Writers Award when he was twelve. He wrote The Hole, his first novel, when he was eighteen. He is also the author of Sophie and The Dandelion Clock. Burt attended Oxford University and taught for three years at Eton. He lives in Oxford.


From the Hardcover edition.