Charles Spencer, Earl Spencer

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS DETAILS OF SEVERE CHILD ABUSE AND RESULTING LIFE-LONG TRAUMA. READ BOTH THE BOOK AND MY REVIEW WITH CARE.

I've not thought about Charles Spencer since he gave the eulogy at the funeral of his sister, Princess Diana. Occasionally my Instagram feed shows me pictures of his grand home in Northamptonshire, Althorp, where Diana is buried. He's the 9th Earl Spencer now, on his third wife, and the father of seven children.

Born into immense privilege, I assumed that his life was a relatively happy one. I was so incredibly wrong. Sent to boarding school at age eight, his sufferings at the hands of the staff at Maidwell Hall make for excruicating listening. (I listened to the audiobook.) I did not realize that there were such hells in boarding schools. The almost-daily physical abuse, the persistent sexual abuse, and constant bullying from both teachers and peers made this the most upsetting book I've ever read. Forty years on, Mr. Spencer has scars on his buttocks, so cruel and heavy the punishment, and the deep psychological scars he bears have affected his life in every conceivable way.

I don't know what the upper middle class and the peerage of the UK are thinking when they send small boys away from every comfort, every loving face and embrace, every freedom, into boarding schools. Even schools without institutionalised abuse must seem so cold and bleak and unfriendly to little boys who have never before spent a night away from their families, their pets, their bedrooms. I think it's barbaric.

The book is very detailed as pertains to the abuse. I can't fathom a young woman sexually molesting young boys, having plied them first with kindness and lots of candy. The other staff musst have known about all the forms of abuse going on, and not one person spoke up for the boys. It's criminal, it's haunting.

My apologies if there are typos or spelling mishaps in this review. I keep bursting into tearrs, and it's hard to type through watering eyes.

The book is exceptionally well-written, intelligent, descriptive, and it flowed beautifully. It was also read by Earl Spencer, who has a nice voice and good diction. I'm impressed by the bravery of Mr. Spencer, who reveals so much about his life then and now, and the many other Maidwell Hall survivors, who have spoken to the author and allowed their names to be attached to the book.

Be careful reading it. It was informative and interesting and absolute hell. I grant it a full five stars.… (mehr)

This was a raw, emotional account of Charles Spencer's years at Maidwell Hall, a private boarding school for boys in Northamptonshire. I read this book in a day. It's absolutely riveting. It's shocking that things went on as they did. I understand that, since the publication of Lord Spencer's memoir, the school has turned themselves in to the local council. I will follow that story with interest.

A heartbreaking, gut-wrenching story of a young boy's seeming abandonment at a place of horror and terror. Very well-written.… (mehr)

The White Ship by Charles Spencer is a thorough account of the events leading up to the dumping of dozens of nobles into the dark and frigid waters of the English channel. As if England were not in a precarious state before these events, it surely was afterwards. The author does a good job of setting up the events by scaling back the timeline to William the Conqueror. This in turn gives us an idea of how much the actual death of the sole heir to the Crown would create a series of holes and fracture in the Kingdom. Some readers have criticized the author because much of the book has very little to do with the actual sinking of the ship, but that is a cats tail when it comes to history and attempting to explain events and round them out. For fans of English History this book is highly recommended and will make a nice addition to anyone’s library while imparting a sense of empathy for those involved. Was the accident preventable, was it because of tunnel vision and typical royal behavior? Yes and no. All in all the tragedy was a vast oversight due to negligence. Although as several reviewers have mentioned. This book is a ball of tightly wound rubber bands of characters that gets bigger and bigger and bouncier and bouncier as it progesses. The sheer amount of people involved in this is astounding, but then again that is expected with the space the story occupies. Be ready for crossed eyes by the time you are done. But do not allow that to take away from the value of the book. This is by no means a Dan Jones book, but then again it was not meant to be. There is without a doubt something to be learned from not only The White Ship, but the state of mind regarding the time period, people involved and the geography of the situation. The cause and effect literally changed the course of the world and the direction not only of a continent but how the countries involved would move forward (sometimes backwards) through the ages. This is Black Adder meets Game of thrones in a manner that is far from humorous, but deadly apparent.… (mehr)