The Lit List – Boarding School and Campus novels

It’s a Back to School special. Check out this ten of the best in boarding school and campus novels.

1. The Secret History by Donna Tartt. An inverted detective novel in which a student clique at an exclusive university indulges in Dionysian bacchanals
2. The Red Word by Sarah Henstra. Sophomore Karen moves in with battlethirsty feminist enclave Raghurst, while dating a member of Raghurst’s sworn enemy fraternity Gamma Beta Chi (aka Gang Bang Central). An epic tale of torn allegiances, mythologies and rape culture. 
3. Among Others by Jo Walton. Morwenna escapes her witchy mother but finds herself adrift and outcast at boarding school.
4. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Ruth, Kathy and Tommy grow up cloistered in what appears to be an idyllic boarding school. As adults, they come to realise the true purpose of their ‘studentship’. Dystopian.
5. Oligarchy by Scarlett Thomas. Tash, the daughter of a Russian oligarch, arrives at an English boarding school, a world of strict pecking orders, eating disorders and Instagram angst.
6. The Honours by Tim Clare. Following an incident involving another girl at boarding school, Delphine Venner is sent home to Alderberen Hall, in Norfolk. A ripping yarn taking in the horrors of boarding school, the enemy in our midst and invasion from another dimension.
7. Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh. The misadventures of Paul Pennyfeather, sent down from Oxford and forced to teach at a lowly Welsh public school.
8. The Art of Fielding by Chad Hardbach. Shortstop Henry Skrimshander’s promising college baseball career is upended by a mis-throw. A coming-of-age novel about ambition and commitment.
9. Bunny by Mona Award. Scholarship student, Samantha, is an outsider on her creative fiction masters programme at elite New England Warren University. The other students are privileged and entitled, and call each other Bunny.
10. Stoner by John Williams. William Stoner is married to the wrong woman and has an undistinguished career. Sadly beautiful.

Classics of Children’s Fiction

• The Malory Towers sextet by Enid Blyton. Darrell Rivers
• The Harry Potter series by J K Rowling

If you liked this literary list, see here for more Lit Lists and book reviews.

Love reading? Want to meet like-minded people? Pop along to the Burton Book Club for novel chat.