John Knowles: Life and A Separate Peace John Knowles was born September 16, 1926 in Fairmont, West Virginia. His first published novel, A Separate Peace, was published in 1959 in England (John). The story is based on Knowles’ experience at Phillips Exeter Academy, but is not literally true. Knowles states that his life work is writing. Knowles attended Phillips Exeter Academy, a boarding school in New Hampshire. As a sixteen-year-old boy, he began attending the academy as a summer session student in 1943. In A Separate Peace, Gene is based on Knowles himself and Phineas, or Finny, is based on his friend David Hackett. Knowles’ experiences at boarding school contributed to the plot of his most successful novel. Not all parts of the novel are
