'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