A Very Private School
A Memoir
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A Very Private School
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Narrated by:
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Charles Spencer
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Written by:
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Charles Spencer
About this listen
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
“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.
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What listeners say about A Very Private School
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Maxina
- 2024-08-31
I was also a British boarder.
Thank you for your detailed account. I went to two girls boarding schools, in the 70’s, also starting at 8. We didn’t have the corporal punishment that the boys had or the potential for sexual abuse. I did however, have the terrible home sickness, nervous dermatitis all over my legs, anxiety, bullying, teasing and a complete lack of empathy or understanding from either teachers or my parents. Its left a deep mark on my that cannot be erased. Your account has been calm and kind in a very therapeutic way. Your memoir represents a part of British culture that must be changed but not forgotten.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- ann russell
- 2024-03-22
Five Stars! But not because "I Love It! "
A harrowing story, extremely well written and narrated. The author's experiences as an unwilling captive youngster in an English boarding school will resonate with the faceless millions of others who are still trying to make sense and come to terms with what we suffered as children in similar institutions when our parents and other adults who could have saved us simply looked the other way.
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