A former pupil from a British boarding school has recalled the unconventional measures taken to read a controversial novel during their school years. In a letter to a national newspaper, Christopher Murray of Barford St Michael, Oxfordshire, described how he and his peers managed to read Harold Robbins’ The Carpetbaggers, a lengthy and risqué book, despite restrictions imposed by school authorities.

Murray explained that after completing reading Lady Chatterley’s Lover—referred to colloquially as “Lady C”—at their boarding school, he and others sought out other provocative literature. The group obtained a copy of The Carpetbaggers, but due to its substantial length, they divided the book into four or five sections so that several students could read portions covertly after lights out.

According to Murray, the sections were intended to be shared in sequence; however, the circulation order was often inconsistent, leading to some confusion among readers. This disarray compounded the challenge of following the narrative but was somewhat offset by the novel’s explicit content, which remained a major attraction.

Murray also recalled that the housemaster confiscated two of the installments, further limiting access to the story. Despite these obstacles, the students’ determination to read the novel highlighted both the restrictions placed on literature at the time and the resourcefulness of young readers seeking to circumvent them.