The Best Boarding School Fiction
By Walden Pond Books
By Walden Pond Books
Boarding school books. . . they're not just for kids (though many of them are).
The appeal of boarding school fiction has never really faltered since Thomas Hughes first popularized the genre with Tom Brown's School Days in 1857. Hughes's novel has been in print ever since and has been a mainstay of both adult and children's literature for generations. The boarding school story genre was to remain almost exclusively a British one, and as British public schools (as boarding schools are known in the U.K.) churned out the inheritors of the British Empire, so, too, did British authors churn out countless tales set in boarding schools well into the first half of the 20th century. There were a few exceptions, but the vast majority of these books were "ripping yarns" written for children and presented the schools as idealized paradises where children spent "the best years of our lives". Typical of books of the time, the obtuseness to race and diversity was pretty much universal. Most of them are now out of print.
Then, from the other side of the Atlantic, along came J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye in 1951 to give readers their first taste of what an American boarding school could produce. And then, in 1959, came John Knowles's A Separate Peace, a National Book Award finalist. Boarding school books weren't just for kids anymore. . . Boarding school fiction written for adults had begun to take a more realistic and nuanced approach. Teachers, as well as students, became main characters. Themes of coming-of-age turmoil, adolescent rebellion, academic intrigue, and institutionalized deception began to appear in novels set in the cloistered environment of the supposedly idyllic boarding school - and many of these books were of decided literary merit.
And then, in 1997, J.K. Rowling made it all about the kids again with the publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Millions of children discovered the drama and adventure to be found in a fictional boarding school setting - and some of those children became authors. In fact, many of the young-adult and children's books in the latter section of this list thus represent J.K. Rowling's legacy.
No matter what your age, start scrolling through this five-page list and make your own discoveries of drama and adventure in boarding school fiction.
The Governess: Or, the Little Female Academy
Sarah Fielding
$39.09It's worthy of note that the very first full-length novel specifically written for children (1749) was a boarding school story. Set in northern England at a small (limited to nine students) fictional girls' boarding school (unnamed) run by Mrs. Teachum.
Villette
Charlotte Bronte
$14.00A friendless orphan leaves England to teach at Mme. Beck's 'pensionnat', a fictional girls' boarding school in the fictional city of Villette in the fictional country of Labassecour. Despite her resolve to remain independent and emotionally unattached, she finds romance with a fellow teacher. First published in 1853, Charlotte Bronte's third and last novel is based on the author's experience teaching at a 'pensionnat' in Brussels, Belgium in 1842 at the age of 26. Critics have opined that this book's literary merits rival - even exceed - Bronte's earlier "Jane Eyre".
Tom Brown's Schooldays
Thomas Hughes
$11.95 $11.11This is the book that launched the popularity of the "boarding school book" genre and is set at Rugby School in Warwickshire, England, the author's alma mater. The character of Tom Brown is based on the author's brother, George Hughes. The novel also features Dr. Thomas Arnold, who was headmaster of Rugby School from 1828 to 1841. "Tom Brown's Schooldays" revolutionized secondary education in England. One of the most influential of all boarding school novels, its publication in 1857 resulted in the wide-spread adoption of Dr. Arnold's enlightened educational philosophy and reforms.
Nicholas Nickleby
Charles Dickens
$10.00 $9.30An exposé of school brutality, this was one of the few novels of the 19th century that did NOT present a boarding school as an idyllic utopia. The titular hero teaches at Dotheboys Hall, a fictional boys' boarding school in Yorkshire based on Bowes Academy, an actual Yorkshire school which was the subject of Victorian era scandal.
Little Men
Louisa May Alcott
$8.99 $8.36In some ways the American counterpart to "Tom Brown's Schooldays", this 1871 sequel to Alcott's "Little Women" is set at the Plumford Estate School run by Professor Friedrich Bhaer and his wife (Jo March of "Little Women"). With a student body of ten orphan boys and the the two Bhaer sons, Plumford employs an enlightened educational system and is far from the typical boarding school of the era. Its ideology is loosely based on the Concord School of Philosophy and Literature, a school founded by Louisa May Alcott's father, Amos Bronson Alcott. The character of Friedrich is partly modeled on Henry David Thoreau, a former teacher of Louisa May Alcott when she attended the Concord, Massachusetts school founded by Thoreau and his brother. (Thoreau closed the school in 1841.)
A Little Princess
Frances Hodgson Burnett
$12.00Captain Crewe, a widowed British Army officer stationed in India during the days of the Raj, brings his adored seven-year-old daughter to London and enrolls her in Miss Minchin's School for Girls. Returning to India, the Captain promptly dies penniless. This famous tale of a girl abandoned in a boarding school first saw print as "Sara Crewe; or, What Happened at Miss Minchin's", serialized in St. Nicholas Magazine in 1887/1888. Frances Hodgson Burnett revised and expanded it in 1905 when it gained its current title. Dozens of stage and screen adaptations of the novel (the most notable is the 1939 film starring Shirley Temple) followed the book's publication.
The Complete Stalky & Co.
Rudyard Kipling
$11.95 $11.11Set at an unnamed English public school known only as "the College" or "the Coll", based on the actual United Services College attended by the author as a boy. First published in 1899, the book collects nine short stories which had previously appeared in magazines. Kipling's portrayal of the boys as worldly, cynical, sometimes cruel adolescents was not met with favor by many critics of the time, and probably accounts for what a fresh and entertaining read the book still is over a century later.
The Pothunters
P. G. Wodehouse
$10.91Set at St. Austin's, a fictional English boys' boarding school. Also the setting for Wodehouse's short story collection, "Tales of St. Austin's". This was Wodehouse's very first published novel (1902) and his comic genius is already in evidence.
Tales of St. Austin's
P. G. Wodehouse
$9.99Set at St. Austin's, a fictional English boys' boarding school. These short stories first appeared in the children's magazines, "The Captain" and "Public School Magazine", then published in book form in 1904. Also the setting for Wodehouse's first novel, "The Pothunters".
The Jolliest School of All - A School Story
Angela Brazil
$16.09A 1922 novel set at Villa Camellia, a fictional boarding school in Naples, run by Englishwomen exclusively for British and American girls. Angela Brazil was one of the most popular of all the boarding school story authors of the early 20th century. Like some other British books of the era, this title contains elements of xenophobia and Anglo-Saxon supremacy to which most of its contemporary readers were probably oblivious. (This is the American title - it was first published in the U.K. as "The School in the South".)
The Nicest Girl in the School (Edited)
Arthur Augustus Dixon and Angela Brazil
$14.00Angela Brazil's most popular book epitomizes the girls' boarding school story of the era. This is the edition edited for modern readers and is free of the disquieting elements referenced in "The Jolliest School of All" (see above). Set at Morton Priory, a fictional girls boarding school presumably in the English country town of Morton (historically known as the geographic center of England).
Decline and Fall
Evelyn Waugh
$17.99 $16.73Set at Llanabba, a fictional boys' school in Wales based on Lancing College, an actual school in West Sussex attended by the author as a boy. Focusing on the misadventures of the Llanabba teachers, this was Waugh's debut novel - it is a must-read book on any list!
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
James Hilton
$18.99 $17.66James Hilton's classic novel is set at the Brookfield School, a fictional boys' English public school based on the Leys School in Cambridge, attended by the author as a boy. One of the best portrayals in fiction of the career of a boarding school teacher.
The Naughtiest Girl: Naughtiest Girl in the School: Book 1
Enid Blyton
$10.99This first of Enid Blyton's boarding school books, and the first novel in the four-book Naughtiest Girl series, was first published in 1940 and has recently been reprinted for American readers. Featuring the exploits of young heroine Elizabeth Allen, the series is set at the fictional Whyteleafe School (purportedly based on Summerhill School in Suffolk). The first of Blyton's six novels in the St. Clare's series, "The Twins at St. Clare's", appeared in 1941, featuring the twin sisters Patricia and Isabel O'Sullivan. In 1946 Enid Blyton launched the first in her six-book Malory Towers series based on the exploits of schoolgirl Darrell Rivers, "First Term at Malory Towers". During Blyton's writing career these three series were by far the most popular of all boarding school books with young readers. Though the vast majority of her books are now out of print in the U.S., Enid Blyton remains the most translated children's author in history with her books having sold more than 500 million copies.
Jennings Abounding!
William Gomez and Anthony Buckeridge
$15.54Set at Linbury Court, a fictional boys' boarding school in a small English country town. Enormously popular with young readers in the U. K. during the '50s and '60s, of the more than 20 Jennings books written by Anthony Buckeridge, the only one remaining in print in the U.S. is this adaptation into a stage play.
Olivia
Dorothy Strachey
$15.00 $13.95Set at Les Avons, a fictional French finishing school for girls based on Les Ruches, the girls' school in Fontainebleau, France attended by the author. This was Dorothy Strachey's only book and is still one of the most insightful novels dealing with student/teacher infatuation.
The Catcher in the Rye
J. D. Salinger
$9.99 $9.29(American kids go to boarding schools, too.) The first seven chapters take place at Pencey Preparatory Academy, a fictional boys' boarding school in the fictional town of Agers, Pennsylvania, and set the scene for Holden Caulfield's expulsion and subsequent adventures. Pencey is probably based on Valley Forge Military Academy, a Pennsylvania boarding school attended by the author.
A Separate Peace
John Knowles
$17.00 $15.81John Knowles's classic work is set at the Devon School - a fictional New Hampshire boys' boarding school based on Phillips Exeter Academy, the author's alma mater. This was the first major 20th-century American novel to employ a boarding school as its primary setting.
Cat Among the Pigeons
Agatha Christie
$15.99 $14.87A murder has been committed at the Meadowbank School, a fictional English girls' boarding school for daughters of the rich and famous. Students, teachers, and parents - all are potential suspects. The police are baffled. Enter Hercule Poirot. . .
A Wizard of Earthsea
Ursula K. Le Guin
$15.99 $14.87In 1968, this first book in Le Guin's five-book Earthsea series employed what is arguably the first "school for magic" setting in a fantasy novel and features the education of Sparrowhawk at the School of Wizardry in the town of Thwil on Roke Island.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Muriel Spark
$14.99 $13.94Set at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls, in Edinburgh, Scotland, based on James Gillespie's School for Girls, a school in Edinburgh attended by the author. A classic must-read novel, in some ways the feminine counterpart to "Goodbye Mr. Chips" (see above) - but with a sinister twist.
Time of the Hero
Mario Vargas Llosa
$20.00 $18.60The very first novel written by this winner of the Nobel Prize. Set at the author's alma mater, the Leoncio Prado Military Academy in Lima, Peru. When Llosa's novel was first published in 1962, a thousand copies were burned in an official ceremony at the school.
A Murder of Quality: A George Smiley Novel
John Le Carré
$17.00 $15.81Set at Carne School, a fictional English boys' boarding school in Dorset modeled after Sherborne School in Dorset which the author had attended as a boy. This was the acclaimed espionage author's second book (1962) and is his only novel in which his reoccurring character, George Smiley, operates outside his usual environment of British Intelligence.
The Fourth of June
David Benedictus
$19.54Set at Eton College, the author's alma mater. A savagely satirical novel whose hero encounters a plethora of snobbery, sadism and sexuality at England's most prestigious public school. When first published in 1962, the book outraged some Old Etonians (Eton alumni) - others praised it to the skies. Old Etonian Ian Fleming called it "brilliantly written" by an author of "rapier wit, acute observation and perceptive eye".
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Joan Lindsay
$16.00 $14.88Set at the Appleyard College for Young Ladies, a fictional girls' boarding school near Mount Macedon, Victoria, Australia, based on the Clyde School (also near Mount Macedon), which the author attended as a girl. Joan Lindsay so adroitly used the form of a non-fiction documentary, many readers were positive the book was based on a true story. The author has cryptically refused to confirm that the book is entirely fictional.
Banner art: engraving by George Cruikshank (1792 - 1878)
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