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A Very Private School

Brief Description
THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A Times, Spectator and Waterstones Book of the Year 'Shocking and moving' Guardian 'Top marks for its searing frankness, framed in wistfully beautiful prose’ The Times At eight years of age, Charles Spencer was sent away to one of England's most... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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A Very Private School

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THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

A Times, Spectator and Waterstones Book of the Year

'Shocking and moving' Guardian

'Top marks for its searing frankness, framed in wistfully beautiful prose’ The Times

At eight years of age, Charles Spencer was sent away to one of England's most exclusive boarding schools. Here he reveals the strange secrets of the school, and the culture of cruelty and abuse he experienced in his five years there as a pupil.

Spencer reflects on the misery, hopelessness and abandonment he felt aged eight, viscerally describing the intense pain of homesickness and the vicious brutality of a boys' school in the 1970s. All these years later, Spencer's bafflement at the teachers' motivations to inflict such cruelty on young children is palpable. As is his fury that, even if somehow he had spoken up, he'd never have been believed.

Charles Spencer's book A Very Private School was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 11-03-2024.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780008666118

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 13 March 2025

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: William Collins

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 30.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 340g

Pages: 304

About the Author

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.

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