# Recommend some stories set in orphanages or boarding schools, please **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 2, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848 "2011-12-02T16:02:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/21 "2011-12-02T22:56:16Z")
The Australian film **Flirting** with Thandie Newton. > **[Flirting (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flirting_(film))** > > Flirting is a 1991 Australian coming-of-age comedy drama film written and directed by John Duigan. The story revolves around a romance between two teenagers, and it stars Noah Taylor, who appears again as Danny Embling, the protagonist of Duigan's 1987 film The Year My Voice Broke. It also stars Thandiwe Newton and Nicole Kidman. > Flirting is the second in an incomplete trilogy of autobiographical films by Duigan. It was produced by Terry Hayes, Doug Mitchell, Barbara Gibbs and George Miller, ... ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/22 "2011-12-02T23:23:33Z")
All written for kids and set in English Boarding schools. The Jennings and Darbishire series by Anthony Buckridge. The Billy Bunter series by Richmal Compton ? The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/23 "2011-12-02T23:30:35Z")
How about **Goodbye, Mr Chips** , for the teacher’s POV? ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/24 "2011-12-03T00:42:30Z")
Nice one. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/25 "2011-12-03T01:12:38Z")
There’s a YA series by Gordon Korman known as the “Bruno and Boots” or “MacDonald Hall” books that is set at a Canadian boarding school for boys. There’s a girls’ school nearby, and students and faculty from there also feature in the stories. The books were written between the late '70s and early '90s and had a then-contemporary setting. They are pretty light, humorous books and probably not very realistic, but I enjoyed them when I was a kid. Korman was actually a kid himself when he started writing the series; the first four books were published while he was still in his teens. _The Liar_, by the multitalented Stephen Fry, is a very different, darker and more adult sort of humorous novel that is partially set at a boarding school. The book was published in the early '90s but the boarding school section is set earlier, in the 1970s. IIRC the YA fantasy novel _Ella Enchanted_ is partially set at a girls’ boarding school. The book is set in a fairy tale world, so it’s not really historic or contemporary. There’s another YA fantasy novel that I’ve never read called _The Princess Academy_, by Shannon Hale, that also deals with a girls’ school. ---
**Author:** ![breezman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@breezman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breezman)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/26 "2011-12-03T01:50:23Z")
Since you mentioned The Facts of Life, I take it that TV shows are fair game. [Sister Kate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_Kate_(TV_series)) was set in an orphanage, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Here’s a [video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCsJE6RUps4). ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/27 "2011-12-03T02:10:42Z")
I highly recommend [Skippy Dies](http://www.amazon.com/Skippy-Dies-Novel-Paul-Murray/dp/0865478619/) by Paul Murray. It is a novel set in a modern Irish boarding school. (And I do mean modern. Cell phones are ubiquitous and often important in the plot.) It struck me as very realistic and funny. It does have some problems but I really liked it. ---
**Author:** ![Rala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Rala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rala)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/28 "2011-12-03T04:00:54Z")
_So Much To Tell You …_ and _Take My Word For It_ by John Marsden are diary style novels set at an Australian boarding school in the late '80s. They’re pretty good, and quick reads. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/29 "2011-12-03T04:25:02Z")
Another vote for Tom Brown’s School Days, I loved that book. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/30 "2011-12-03T07:38:59Z")
[The Lion’s Paw](http://www.amazon.com/Lions-Paw-Robb-White/dp/0982093209/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top) by Robb White starts out in an orphanage, but I’m not sure if this is enough for the OP. This book is mostly about three kids on a boat, trying to avoid the notice of authorities while they search for a seashell. There’s more to it than that, but my memories are faded, other than the memory of how much I enjoyed that book as a child. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/31 "2011-12-03T08:30:20Z")
I’m cheating here because this book is only in an orphanage for a while but it is the best chess novel ever written. [The Queen’s Gambit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Queen%27s_Gambit_%28novel%29) by Walter Tevis, author of _The Hustler_,_The Man Who Fell to Earth_, _Mockingbird_, and _The Color of Money_. In putting this post together I have discovered, much to my surprise, that his wikipedia [entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Tevis) is a pathetic attempt to provide information about a great American author. He wrote 6 novels and 3 became movies. I hope to rectify this. ---
**Author:** ![GovernmentMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@GovernmentMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GovernmentMan)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/32 "2011-12-03T11:12:45Z")
School Ties? ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/33 "2011-12-03T12:07:18Z")
Possibly _To Serve Them All My Days_ by **R.F. Delderfield**. After being injured in the trenches of WWI, a young Welshman takes a job teaching at a minor English boarding school and has trouble fitting in… It was also a tv series in the early 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/34 "2011-12-03T14:34:28Z")
Set in the real-life boarding school of [Lawrenceville School](http://www.lawrenceville.org/), near Princeton, the [Lawrenceville Stories](http://www.amazon.com/Lawrenceville-Stories-Complete-One/dp/B000VBQIAY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1322922570&sr=8-3) are a well-written look at boarding school life in the late 19th century. StG ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/35 "2011-12-03T14:53:13Z")
Hitting the “modern” theme harder than the “realistic” bit–The Gallagher Girls by Ally Carter. The first book is “I’d tell you I love you, but then I’d have to Kill You” It’s about a boarding school supposedly for girl geniuses, but really for girl _spies_. The girls are all geniuses, of course, how else could they understand the number of languages they need to, and the science to make miniature devices, and change fingerprints or whatever. The plot is a little on the flimsey side, but I love some of the details like the “prom” where they all practice appearing undercover as diplomats and the like. And the lunches where they are supposed to be practicing language skills, so the seventh graders are cheerfully Bonjouring each other, while the sophomores are carrying on normal conversation which just happens to be in French. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/36 "2011-12-04T20:25:55Z")
Joanne Harris’ _Gentlemen and Players_ is stunning. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/37 "2011-12-04T21:05:10Z")
Musil, _Young Toerless_ (With umlaut over the “o”). I come back to Musil often, but only read this once – it’s kind of a harrowing little tale, all about imaginary numbers and “confusions” [Verwirrungen] of this kid. Classic – kind of too bad Musil hasn’t taken his rightful place next to Proust, James, and Conrad as one of the handful of outstanding fiction writers of the modern era. Pretty good movie by Schloendorff – can’t remember how to spell his name, but pretty famous director, a German I believe, not Austrian like Musil, but nobody’s perfect – by the same name as well. ---
**Author:** ![gladtobeblazed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@gladtobeblazed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gladtobeblazed)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/38 "2011-12-04T23:20:21Z")
_Au Revoir Les Enfants_ was the first movie that came to my mind, although it’s set during World War II so it might not be what you’re looking for. It’s quite a fantastic film and based on the director’s own childhood experiences. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/39 "2011-12-05T00:08:45Z")
> [@GovernmentMan](#): > > School Ties? YES! This is a great, classic, incredible movie, with one of the best young casts I’ve ever seen. Brendan Frasier, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Anthony Rapp, Chris O’Donnell, Randall Batinkoff and Cole Hauser all have major roles. And the incomparably menacing Zeljko Ivanek (who played Governor Devlin on _Oz_ and a host of other evildoers) also makes an appearance. Ed Lauter plays Frasier’s dad. Really fantastic cast. Deals with the issue of upper-class American anti-Semitism in the mid 20th century, a topic rarely touched on in movies, despite the number of Jewish screenwriters. Paradoxically, the Jewish David Green is played by gentile Brendan Frasier, while no less than _three_ of his WASP tormentors are played by Jews (Batinkoff, Rapp, Hauser.) It’s also unusual and interesting to see Matt Damon in a very rare bad-guy role. I can’t recommend this film highly enough - I’ve seen it a billion times. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848/40 "2011-12-05T01:33:06Z")
Roald Dahl’s Boy: Tales of a Childhood has a large boarding school part. Plus, what a childhood he had! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-stories-set-in-orphanages-or-boarding-schools-please/604848.md?page=3)