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.
‘‘Moving and beautifully written, what Spencer’s 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’’
“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’’
“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’’
‘‘Moving and beautifully written, what Spencer’s 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’’
“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’’
“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’’
NEW RELEASE
OUT NOW!
A WARREN OF WEIRD AND WONDERFUL FACTS AND TALES RESCUED FROM OBSCURITY
The first trivia book from the team behind the hit history podcast The Rabbit Hole Detectives, investigating the provenance of historical objects, real and metaphorical, with intelligence and humour
Ever fallen down a rabbit hole?
Ever got lost chasing a fact, a hunch or a curious piece of cultural ephemera?
Then the Rabbit Hole Detectives – Richard Coles, Cat Jarman and Charles Spencer – are here to do the burrowing for you.
Written to accompany the unforgettable hit podcast, The Rabbit Hole Book follows Richard, Cat and Charles as they investigate and elucidate weird and wonderful curiosities from history, telling stories that are as often dumbfounding as they are gripping, as unexpected as they are hilarious or deeply moving.
NEW RELEASE
10TH OCTOBER 2024
A WARREN OF WEIRD AND WONDERFUL FACTS AND TALES RESCUED FROM OBSCURITY
The first trivia book from the team behind the hit history podcast The Rabbit Hole Detectives, investigating the provenance of historical objects, real and metaphorical, with intelligence and humour
Ever fallen down a rabbit hole?
Ever got lost chasing a fact, a hunch or a curious piece of cultural ephemera?
Then the Rabbit Hole Detectives – Richard Coles, Cat Jarman and Charles Spencer – are here to do the burrowing for you.
Written to accompany the unforgettable hit podcast, The Rabbit Hole Book follows Richard, Cat and Charles as they investigate and elucidate weird and wonderful curiosities from history, telling stories that are as often dumbfounding as they are gripping, as unexpected as they are hilarious or deeply moving.
