''The Custard Boys'' is a 1960 British

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

by John Rae, focusing on the lives of children in a small village in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

dealing with an influx of war refugees. It is sometimes compared to ''

Lord of the Flies ''Lord of the Flies'' is a 1954 novel by the Nobel Prize-winning British author William Golding. The plot concerns a group of British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves. Themes i ...

'', and was adapted to make the film ''

Reach for Glory ''Reach for Glory'' is a 1962 British film adaptation of John Rae's 1961 novel, ''The Custard Boys'', directed by Philip Leacock. It received a United Nations Award. Plot A group of boys, evacuated during World War II from London to a coast ...

'' in 1962 (which was passed with an 'X' certificate at the time by the British Board of Film Censors), and again for a second film carrying the original name in 1979, directed by Colin Finbow.

References

Novels set in Norfolk Novels set during World War II 1960 British novels British novels adapted into films Rupert Hart-Davis books {{1960s-WWII-novel-stub