Boarding School Bastard. A Memoir: Life in an Orphanage for Fatherless Boys

A deaf widow leaves her eight-year-old son, Alan, at an orphanage, hoping he'll find a better life than she can provide on a sweatshop paycheck. She dreams that Girard College, a boarding school for fatherless boys, will be his Camelot. What she doesn't know is that child abuse, anti-Semitism, sexual assault, and bullying await him. And Alan doesn't know whether his mother is coming back. Or if he'll have to run away. Boarding School Bastard is the moving memoir of a frightening yet fascinating childhood, spent in a historic Philadelphia orphanage from 1962 to 1970. Leavening tragedy with humor and humanity, Boarding School Bastard reveals a world we'd prefer to avoid but is too riveting to ignore. To witness how hope and friendship triumph over grief, abuse and fear, this best-selling memoir is essential reading. PRAISE FOR BOARDING SCHOOL BASTARD
"Sharavsky has dug deep for this gripping and emotional memoir, exposing a childhood sure to leave as big a mark on the reader as it did on the writer. Unforgettable." -- Jon Clinch, Author of Finn, Marley and Kings of the Earth "Alan Sharavsky's Boarding School Bastard is a 'Me Too' manifesto from a male perspective. Writing in crisp prose, laced with humor, Sharavsky immerses a reader in the travails of childhood and adolescence. But his is not an ordinary coming of age story." -- Annette Libeskind Berkovits, Author of In the Unlikeliest of Places & Confessions of an Accidental Zoo Curator "While aspects are reminiscent of Oliver Twist, especially the deliberate cruelties inflicted by many of the adults on those in their care, Sharavsky's story is also a testament to the resilience of children who travel through painful events. Touching, and at times, humorous, this memoir will linger long in the reader's mind." -- Nancy Christie, Author of Traveling Left of Center and Other Stories and The Gifts of Change "I was rooting for the pint-sized protagonist from the first page, gripped and fearing for him by the 10th. This modern-day Oliver struggles to find his way in a well-intentioned but troubled institution, founded at a time when 'orphan' equaled 'fatherless'." -- Valerie, M. Jones, CEO, Speaker and Author of Non-Profit Hero "Sharavsky's experiences, as depicted in this moving book, provide an important lens into the loneliness and fear felt by children who feel vulnerable and unprotected. Boarding School Bastard eloquently portrays the trauma experienced by victims and witnesses to child abuse." -- Deb