How long does it take to read To Serve Them All My Days?
R. F. Delderfield
To Serve Them All My Days by R. F. Delderfield takes about 11 hours 42 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 11 hours 42 minutes
A week or two of reading
First published 1972. 638 pages, about 175,450 words.
24 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 19 hours 30 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 11 hours 42 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 7 hours 19 minutes |
The page count is the median across 13 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
The protagonist is David Powlett-Jones, a coal miner's son from South Wales, who has risen from the ranks of the South Wales Borderers and been commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in World War I after serving three years in the front-line trenches. In 1918, after being injured and shell-shocked, he is employed to teach history at Bamfylde School, a fictional public school in North Devon, in the south-west of England. He swiftly earns the respect of many of his colleagues, with the notable exception of Carter, an ambitious science master and Commanding Officer of the school's Officer Training Corps (OTC), whose military bearing compensates for the embarrassing fact that he was released from military service, for medical reasons, one week prior to being sent to the Western Front. Carter makes no secret of his outrage at the content of David's history lessons, which include recollections of life at the front -- David has rejected wartime propaganda and grown to respect German soldiers -- and honest analyses, verging on socialism, of the war's political background and potential consequences. Following the Armistice, the two men disagree on whether or not the school should erect a war memorial; David loses the argument but wins the respect of Brigadier Cooper, one of the governors. Under the tutelage of Headmaster Algy Herries, who views him as a possible successor, David discovers a vocation in teaching. He also forms a close friendship with the curmudgeonly English master, Ian Howarth, and with several students of unique personality and talents, including Chad Boyer, who will himself become a teacher at Bamfylde. He also acquires two nicknames, "P.J." and "Pow-Wow", the latter owing to his propensity for discussion and debate. David meets a young nurse, Beth Marwood, and in 1919 they marry; shortly afterwards, they have twin daughters, Joan (named after Joan of Arc, canonised in 1919) and Grace. Five years later (one year in the television adaptation), Beth and Joan…
Subjects: Fiction, Married people, School principals, Boarding schools, Fiction, general, Fiction, family life, general
