A Very Private School (Unabridged)
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4.7 • 22 Ratings
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER | NPR “BOOKS WE LOVE” 2024 | PEOPLE’S “BEST CELEBRITY MEMOIRS” 2024 | TOWN & COUNTRY’S “BEST NEW ROYAL BOOKS” 2024 | THE TIMES (LONDON) “10 BEST BIOGRAPHIES AND MEMOIRS” 2024 | WINNIPEG FREE PRESS’S “BEST BOOKS” 2024
NOW WITH A NEW AFTERWORD
“A tour de force.” —The Washington Post
In this poignant memoir, Charles Spencer recounts the trauma of being sent away from home at age eight to attend boarding school.
A Very Private School offers a clear-eyed, first-hand account of a culture of cruelty at the school Charles 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 at 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. And now, in a new afterword, Spencer reflects on the aftermath of his memoir’s publication, including the outpouring of support and solidarity from fellow abuse survivors.
Customer Reviews
Melancholy Memories
An extraordinary set of recollections of a very English boarding school’s past life. The Memories of a dark tale that was very moving and personal. He reports a collective past of abuse and violence that was elegantly glossed over by upper crust parents who were unimaginably detached. Gifted storytelling that will undoubtedly help both himself and his piers.