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A Very Private School
- Narrated by: Charles Spencer
- Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
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A Very Private School
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Summary
THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
'Shocking and moving' Guardian
'A tour-de-force' Washington Post
At eight years of age, Charles Spencer was sent away to one of England’s most exclusive boarding schools.
In this courageous and beautifully written memoir, Spencer offers a clear-eyed, first-hand account of the strange secrets of the school, and the culture of cruelty and abuse he witnessed and experienced in his five years there as a pupil.
Drawing on the memories of many of his schoolboy contemporaries, as well as his own letters and diaries from the time, the book is his attempt to come to terms with the deep emotional scars inflicted upon him. Spencer reflects on the misery, hopelessness and abandonment he felt aged eight, viscerally describing the intense pain of homesickness, the vicious brutality of a boys’ school in the 1970s and the appalling inescapability of it all.
The book cracks the code of the unpoliced regime that ran the place and provides important insights into an antiquated boarding school system. He gives vivid portraits of the teachers and other staff placed in loco parentis, their casual cruelties and toxic obsessions. All these years later, Spencer’s bafflement at their 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.
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What listeners say about A Very Private School
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- sarah hawes
- 25-03-24
Outstanding
What a honour to listen to this story of honesty and integrity and strength and spoken in his own voice thank you
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- Lisa S
- 16-04-24
Interesting and intriguing in equal measure.
I bought this title after seeing the authors interview on tv. This is not a book I would normally be interested in but it complete delivered in every way and I found I could not stop listening once I started. A thoroughly enjoyable listen and the author reading it himself made it even more authentic and heartfelt. I would highly recommend it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Patrick Lubbock
- 20-03-24
Honest, grisly, vulnerable and brave
A wonderfully brave and honest account of the harsh grisly truth delivered with precious vulnerability thank you
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- rhonamcm
- 28-03-24
A broken childhood - explains a lot about current establishment figures
I was weeping before he even got to this monstrous school. But beautifully written and to hear it in Charles Spencer’s own voice even more moving
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- Pam
- 03-04-24
brilliant brilliant
needed to be written , brought bk memories of my time in private school , luckily I wasn't a boarder
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- Ms Melanie Drake
- 20-03-24
Remarkable courage
Thank you for this honest and painful memoir. This first hand account has confirmed my worst fears of little children being separated from their parents, most importantly, their mothers, at such a young age. Even discounting the horrific events you experienced, I feel it’s still unforgivable to send a child away from the safety of home.
I recently read a couple of other memoirs about children raised in difficult circumstances, one about foster care and the other within a cult. This is much more painful to stomach because of the pretence of care and safety.
Any backlash or criticisms you receive on here will pale into insignificance compared to the horrors you experienced and witnessed. I can only imagine how much it took for you to both write this account and then read it to us. And on that note, extremely well written and beautifully read. Thank you.
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2 people found this helpful
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- James O
- 22-03-24
Surprisingly engaging
I bought this based on a review,with little hope of enjoying but more of curiosity. It is not my normal listen .However I soon found the story familiar in many was as I am a similar age just not a boarding school boy, but as the youngest boy in my schools with some similar teachers. It is clearly written from the heart in a delicate but hard hitting manner. Only on the odd occasion did I feel it wandered into self pity, but to be expected. He has a good reading voice which made the listen easy.
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- Susannah Daniel
- 20-03-24
Such an interesting book….
Bravely written account of his time at that awful school. Would recommend to anyone to listen to it.
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- SaraMac
- 23-03-24
Loved how he writes …
A hard listen at times , a raw book that never should have had to have been written . So many young boys given a lifetime of pain. Thankfully these schools no longer can hide. Charles Spencer has told his story with vivid vocabulary. I thought it was great.
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- Woody the foodie
- 16-04-24
a cathartic read
thisbook took me back to my time at prep school. I found it deeply personal and upsetting. this was due to the quality of the writing and my own personal experience
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