Sophie Gee

It was it was unbelievably iconic.

It definitely made it was the making of this book, which Curtis Sittenfeld had wanted to call preppy.

The Cipher, that her editor, a rather brilliant woman called Lee Boudreau, changed it to prep with this great cover.

So PG gave me a copy of this book and he said, read it.

Now, PG, of course, was Curtis Sittenfeld's brother, who would go on to win a major scholarship to Oxford and graduate from Princeton, become a member of the Democratic Party.

He was the youngest person ever elected to council at the age of 27.

He was then convicted on federal charges of bribery and attempted extortion in connection with an undercover investigation, and he went to prison.

So if that's not an allegory for what you're describing as being the story of this book, I don't know what is.

Yes, and we'll keep it as a big surprise what's coming up next on The Secret Life of Books.

So what year do you think that they made corporal punishment illegal in the UK and Australia?

When do you think it was banned in the United States?

You got it.

It is.

It's unconstitutional to ban corporal punishment at a national level.

There are state bans, but it's lawful in public schools in 17 states and in private schools in 48 states.

So almost all private schools in America can use corporal punishment.

I did, as a matter of fact.

Wow.

Yes.

I was quite naughty, as discussed in previous episodes about schools.