A Very Private School

(Hardback)

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Description

In this poignant memoir, Charles Spencer recounts the trauma of being sent away from home at age eight to attend a boarding school.
A Very Private School offers a clear-eyed, firsthand account of a culture of cruelty at the school Spencer attended in his youth and provides important insights into an antiquated boarding system. Drawing on the memories of many of his schoolboy contemporaries, as well as his own letters and diaries from the time, he reflects on the hopelessness and abandonment he felt aged eight, viscerally describing the intense pain of homesickness and the appalling inescapability of it all. Exploring the long-lasting impact of his experiences, Spencer presents a candid reckoning with his past and a reclamation of his childhood.

Reviews

EARLY PRAISE FOR A VERY PRIVATE SCHOOL

Moving and beautifully written, what Spencers courageous book reveals will be horribly familiar to the thousands of us who endured the same vile abuse in dozens of schools that were clones of each other. Most of us will go to our graves with the wounds unhealed'

Louis de Bernieres

'This is a powerful, unforgettable story of childhood trauma, and the dark secrets and savagery of the past, told with a searing honesty and clarity that is ultimately redemptive'

Justine Picardie

A detailed piece of modern history, A Very Private School chronicles the damage done to its author and many of his contemporaries in what John Le Carre called our disgraceful private boarding system. It is a vivid, and enraging narrative of systemic brutality down the years, tolerated in silence, unprosecuted, whose consequences affect all our lives'

James Fox

PRAISE FOR THE SHIP

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

Spencer is one of the finest narrative historians around

Mail on Sunday

Charles Spencer is a gifted storyteller

The Times

As colourful and racy narrative history goes, this absolutely gallops Daily Mail

As gripping as any thriller. History doesn't get any better than this Bill Bryson

A master storyteller rooted in excellent historical research a lyrical, vivid and compelling portrait. He succeeds in bringing to life huge characters from nearly a millennium ago

Spectator

Author Bio

Charles Spencer is author of a number of books including 'Killers of the King and Blenheim: Battle for Europe which was shortlisted for History Book of the Year at the 2005 National Book Awards. A former contributing Correspondent on the TODAY Show (NBC News), he is a Founder of the Althorp Literary Festival. His wife, Karen, founded and runs Whole Child International - a charity that champions abandoned and orphaned children in the Developing World.