novel is more complicated: Georges is aware that he could deceive the priest by handing over only a few of the letters and that Alexandre would then know that he was not ending their affair, but nevertheless he decides to return them all in order to subject the boy to a "test" and a "passing crisis", and thereby lead him to abandon his wild plans of running away from home in order for the two of them to decamp together (p. 397 of the 1946 edition). What is clear is that Georges is not single-minded in his attachment to their affair in the way that Alexandre is. The shock of the boy's death, however, works a change of heart, and the novel ends with his attaining the same devotion to love that Alexandre had shown. The work has been praised for its elegant style, and the discretion with which the subject is treated. One example is the question which Alexander poses to Georges: "Georges, do you know the things one should not know?" Relationship to Peyrefitte's biography and other similar works The plot is understood to be largely autobiographical, with de Sarre being Peyrefitte's alter ego in the book. As in the book, Peyrefitte had a relationship with a younger student at a Catholic boarding school, and as in the book, his love interest eventually committed suicide. The reader can follow George de Sarre's later life as a diplomat in Greece in Peyrefitte's Les Ambassades and La Fin des ambassades, where he also meets Father de Trennes again. Again, this parallels Peyrefitte's life as a diplomat in the 1930s/1940s. Peyrefitte was on (mostly) friendly terms with Henry de Montherlant, who in his later years wrote a novel (Les Garçons, 1969) about a similar relationship. There exists substantial correspondence between the two on, among other things, love for boys and young men. Bibliography Les amitiés particulières: roman / Roger Peyrefitte. Marseille: Jean Vigneau, 1943 (Toulouse: Impr. régionale). 382 pp.; 24 × 19 cm. [Limited edition, 1.999 numbered ex.: 1.858 numbered with Arabic numerals for public sale. 141 numbered with Roman numerals designated hors d 'commerce or H.C.] Les amitiés particulières: roman / Roger Peyrefitte. [85e édition]. Paris: Jean Vigneau, 1946 (Mayenne: impr. de Floch). 444 pp.; 18 × 12 cm. Les amitiés particulières: roman / Roger Peyrefitte; avec, en frontispices, 2 lithographies originales de Valentine Hugo…. – [Paris]: J. Vigneau, 1946