Podknife - Charles Spencer's memoir 'A Very Private School' opens up about boarding school abuse by NPR's Book of the Day

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Charles Spencer's memoir 'A Very Private School' opens up about boarding school abuse

Podcast |: NPR's Book of the Day
Publisher |: NPR
Media Type |: audio
Podknife tags |: Authors,; Books,; Interview
Categories Via RSS |: Arts,; Books
Publication Date |: Mar 27, 2024
Episode Duration |: 00:11:08

A new memoir by historian Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer and brother of Princess Diana, details a difficult childhood marked by alleged physical and sexual abuse at Britain's Maidwell Hall in the 1970s. In today's episode, Spencer tells NPR's Scott Simon how childhood naivete – thinking his parents were all-knowing authorities who must've known about the school's cruelty when they sent him there – prevented him and others from speaking up about what was happening, and why writing A Very Private School felt like an important reclamation of his boyhood. To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

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