A Very Private School cover art

A Very Private School

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

A Very Private School

By: Charles Spencer
Narrated by: Charles Spencer
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £13.78

Buy Now for £13.78

'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 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 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 in 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.

©2024 Charles Spencer (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers Best of 2024 Children's Studies Education Europe Great Britain Politics & Activism Royalty Social Sciences Heartfelt Inspiring Scary Emotionally Gripping
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c
All stars
Most relevant
A wonderfully brave and honest account of the harsh grisly truth delivered with precious vulnerability thank you

Honest, grisly, vulnerable and brave

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very well written, beautifully narrated, very informative and interesting from a modern history perspective, and absolutely heart wrenching memoir.
Charles Spencer has very bravely opened the way for others to tell of their experiences.
Thank you for that.
The police should really investigate the crimes raised in this book as some of the perpetrators are still alive.

Dicken’s “Dotheboys Hall”!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Beautifully written and movingly narrated, this is a gripping and poignant tale of how one man managed to survive the harsh, traditional boarding school system and navigate the subsequent trauma that followed him into adulthood. Not an easy read but this is a book that will stay with me for a long time.

Riveting and poignant…

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved it was read by Charles Spencer himself, a most interesting listen and will listen to this again, have added it to my favourites

The honesty

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
My heart goes out to all of those who suffered at the hands of the type of people who took advantage of the situation these unfortunate children found themselves in at boarding schools. I truly hope everyone affected receives the help they need. A well written account by an eloquent speaker. Bravo for having the courage to speak out!

Eloquently written account of an incredibly difficult experience

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews