Terms & Conditions: Life in Girls' Boarding Schools, 1939-1979

Review The most brilliant, hilarious book. My book of the year ― India Knight Funny, bloodcurdling and moving . . . this will make old boarding-school girls sigh with nostalgia, and everyone else sigh with relief at having avoided the experience ― Daily Mail A funny, vivid and excruciating book, which has left me filled with admiration for the brave, damaged survivors of this lost world -- Virginia Nicholson ― The Times If you think the St Trinian's films were fictitious, then this wonderful book will surely convince you that they were documentaries ― Mail on Sunday The girls' boarding school! What a ripe theme for the most observant verbal artist in our midst today - the absurdly underrated and undersung Ysenda Maxtone Graham, who has the beadiness and nosiness of the best investigative reporter, the wit of Jane Austen and a take on life which is like no one else's. This book has been my constant companion ever since it appeared a few months ago -- A. N. Wilson ― Evening Standard Sparklingly good -- William Leith ― Evening Standard This vivid, vivacious and poignant look at how boarding school life used to be is as engaging as it is educational -- Eithne Farry ― Sunday Express Product Description 'The girls' boarding school! What a ripe theme for the most observant verbal artist in our midst today - the absurdly undersung Ysenda Maxtone Graham, who has the beadiness and nosiness of the best investigative reporter, the wit of Jane Austen and a take on life which is like no one else's. This book has been my constant companion ever since it appeared' A. N. Wilson, Evening Standard When I asked a group of girls who had been at Hatherop Castle in the 1960s whether the school had had a lab in those days they gave me a blank look. 'A laboratory?' I expanded, hoping to jog their memories. 'Oh that kind of lab!' one of them said. 'I thought you meant a Labrador.' 'The cruel teachers. The pashes on other girls. The gossip. The giggles. The awful food. The homesickness. The friendships made for life. The shivering cold. Games of lacrosse, and cricket. 'The most brilliant, hilarious book. My book of the year' India Knight 'A wonderful book' Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday Book Description In Terms & Conditions Ysenda speaks to members of a lost tribe - the Boarding-school Women, grandmothers now and the backbone of the nation, who look back on their experiences with a mixture of horror and humour. From the Back Cover 'A funny, vivid and excruciating book, which has left me filled with admiration for the brave, damaged survivors of this lost world' Virginia Nicholson, The Times 'The cruel teachers. The pashes on other girls. The gossip. The giggles. The awful food. The homesickness. The friendships made for life. The shivering cold. Games of lacrosse, and cricket. 'The girls' boarding school! What a ripe theme for the most observant verbal artist in our midst today - the absurdly underrated and undersung Ysenda Maxtone Graham, who has the beadiness and nosiness of the best investigative reporter, the wit of Jane Austen and a take on life which is like no one else's. This book has been my constant companion ever since it appeared' A. N. Wilson, Evening Standard 'A wonderful book' Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday 'The funniest book you'll read all year' Nicola Shulman About the Author Ysenda Maxtone Graham was born in 1962 and educated at The King's School, Canterbury and Girton College, Cambridge. She has written for many newspapers and magazines as a features writer, book reviewer and columnist. She is the author of six books: The Church Hesitant: A Portrait of the Church of England Today; The Real Mrs Miniver, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Biography of the Year Award; Mr Tibbits's Catholic School; An Insomniac's Guide to the Small Hours; Terms & Conditions: Life in Girls' Boarding Schools, 1939-1979; British Summer Time Begins: The School Summer Holidays, 1930-1980, which was a Sunday Times bestseller. She lives i