Autumn 2007 Haverhill, Massachusetts, is a rusty, decaying old industrial town. It peaked in the 1940s, when it was the hub of shoemaking and leather-tanning. Hitler wanted to bomb it so our boys on the Western Front would have to trudge through the brutal German winters without boots.

The local gentry – lawyers and farmers – all send their kids to Sacred Hearts. It’s your typical North of Boston Catholic school. The walls are painted that drab pinkish-beige and bear either a Crucifix or a statue of Mary. The teachers all have Italian or Irish names and a low tolerance for insubordination. Boys are made to wear white polos and blue trousers; girls, white blouses and plaid, blue-and-grey skirts. Most are the grandchildren of immigrants. A few (mostly the Hispanics) are immigrants themselves.