Mark Smith 
Boys’ Stories of Their Time in a Residential School 
‘The Best Years of Our Lives’

This book provides rich insights into the pre and post care experiences of boys who were pupils in a residential school where the author worked over the course of the 1980s.It describes the boys’ trajectories through life, as well as detailing the rhythms, rituals, routines, and relationships that existed in the school. While the focus is on the (former) boys’ experiences, these are augmented by interview material from staff members, including religious Brothers, who worked in the school.Together, these different perspectives provide unique insights into an area of social work history that is ill-served by existing accounts, making the book required reading for all scholars and students of social work; social and oral history; narrative sociology; criminology and desistance and social policy.