Looking for books set in boarding schools? Press play above to hear us discuss dozens that we love, including — a murder mystery at an Irish girls’ school, a coming-of-age story at an elite New England institution, a YA horror that begins on Halloween night, a dark fantasy at a magic school, and a Brontë classic that’s weird and wonderful. Plus the world’s oldest bookstore, fado music, and the poet who wrote under 80 pen names. Or read on.
Since 597, students have hauled books among the green lawns and Gothic stone buildings of the world’s oldest boarding school: The King’s School in Canterbury, England. Founded by St. Augustine — patron saint of theologians, printers, and brewers (!) — it’s educated hundreds of thousands of boys over the past 1400 years, including Shakespeare’s rival Christopher Marlowe and Legolas himself, actor Orlando Bloom.
Boarding schools are practically designed for drama in real life and on the page. They’re populated by kids of all ages, and the closed environment is ripe for cliques, bullying, and friendships tighter than family. The built-in power dynamics — students vs. teachers, day schoolers vs. boarders, scholarship kids vs. legacies — are the ideal kindling for entertaining and affecting conflict.
In this episode, we take a romp through the history of boarding school literature, enjoy a virtual tour of the posh school for the world’s elitest students, and celebrate a thirteen-year-old boy who biked sixty miles to make it to the first day of term in 1926. Then we recommend great books that took us back to school on the page:
The Secret Place by Tana French — a hypnotic (and witchy) murder mystery set at an all-girls’ school in Ireland
Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld — a coming-of-age story set at a posh boarding school in New England
Say Her Name by Juno Dawson — a YA horror that begins on Halloween and asks the question, What if Bloody Mary is real?
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh — a grown-up dark fantasy that explores boarding school life from a teacher’s perspective
Villette by Charlotte Brontë — a weird and wonderful (semi-autobiographical) Victorian novel set in Belgium
Find dark academia irresistible? Here are 7 Dark Academia Novels with just the right amount of spooky — and if you’re happy to have school in the rearview mirror, here are 8 Novels Set in Private Schools That Will Make You Glad You’re a Grownup. For more atmospheric books, treat yourself to our podcast Secret Passages: Down the Rabbit Hole.
Read the full transcript of Boarding School: Crushes, Cliques, and Curfews.
The Governess, or the Little Female Academy by Sarah Fielding
Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens — Dotheboys Hall, the school in the novel
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë — Lowood School, from the novel
What Katy Did at School by Susan Coolidge
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Truly Devious series by Maureen Johnson
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
Scholomance Trilogy by Naomi Novik
Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio — and the audiobook
Well-Schooled in Murder by Elizabeth George
Down a Dark Hall by Lois Duncan
American Wife: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld
Rodham: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
Show Don’t Tell: Stories by Curtis Sittenfeld
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
Perhaps you’d like to set the vibes with an ambiance video.
And some images to set the scene…
The King’s School in Canterbury, the world’s first boarding school
Winchester College in Hampshire, the world’s longest continuously operating boarding school
West Nottingham Academy in Colora, Maryland
The Governor’s Academy in Newbury, Massachusetts
Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts
Phillips Academy’s Evolving Bill of Fare. ‘When Phillips Academy was established in 1778 you were lucky if you got bread and molasses every day, beefsteak from the neighboring tannery once a week and apple pie on Sunday, with once in a while some buckwheat fritters that boys used to use when they wanted to pitch quoits.’
A brief biography of Sarah Fielding, the author of The Governess, or the Little Female Academy
A New Era for Boarding School Literature — ‘Emma Staffaroni on the end of a (problematic) fairy tale.’
Is My Dark Vanessa the most controversial novel of the year? The author talks about the pressure to write a ‘likeable’ victim and the line between fiction and memoir.
Statement 1: There is a boarding school that changes its location with the seasons.
Statement 2: There’s a boarding school in England that still tells the story of a thirteen-year-old boy who, in 1926, biked sixty miles alone on a single-speed to make it to the first day of term.
Alan Turing biography, specifically mentions the sixty-mile ride and the almost-Olympic marathon time
Statement 3: In the 1920s, a British boarding school made a deal with a Scottish whisky distiller: a case of scotch to the headmaster every Christmas, in exchange for permission to test experimental medicinal tonics on the boys during the winter term. The tonics were mostly whisky.
Chocolate Wars: The inspiration for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Roald Dahl Wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory During the ‘Most Difficult Years of His Life’
The Secret Place by Tana French
The Guardian interview with Tana French. ‘I’ve always been interested in the intensity of friendship and the dangers that come with that.’
Book Lounge by Libby podcast. ‘Tana shares where her ideas come from, how she approaches each book and detective and they even talk about just what exactly happened in In the Woods.’
Popsugar interview: Tana French Is the Mystery Writer You Haven’t Read Yet (but Should)
DIY MFA podcast: Writing Literary Mysteries — Interview with Tana French
Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
Say Her Name by Juno Dawson
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
Sley House Publishing podcast: ‘Trevor is joined by author Emily Tesh to talk about her new book, The Incandescent. Listen in as they discuss the book, the origins of dark academia, how The Incandescent plays with familiar expectations, and how the book reflects on the craft, labor, and importance of teaching.’
Villette by Charlotte Brontë
‘I pine away’… Charlotte Brontë’s Romantic Obsession. ‘How the eldest Brontë sister took revenge on the recipient of her unrequited love.’
Villette Rocks Brussels, or Was There Really a Scandal in the City?
Fun fact: I watched Class MANY times with my best friend in high school.
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