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The Girls Of Slender Means

'It never really occurred to her that literary men, if they like women at all, do not want literary women but girls.' 
 
The May of Teck Club 'exists for the Pecuniary Convenience and Social Protection of Ladies of Slender Means below the age of Thirty Years'. Nevertheless, and though there is a war on, they find the time between elocution lessons to jostle one another over suitors (some more suitable than others) and a single Schiaparelli gown. But can a love of literature, fine clothes and amorous young men save these young ladies from the horrors of the real world? 
 
'Unsettling and exhilarating' William Boyd, Daily Telegraph 
 
'An enduring genius' Guardian

One of this century's finest creators of the comic-metaphysical entertainment

Muriel Spark's novels linger in the mind as brilliant shards, decisive as a smashed glass is decisive'

London, 1945. The war is grinding to a halt, and the city begins to embrace the hordes who gather to hear the political speeches of the day. 
 
And in the tightly-knit world of a Kensington hostel a bevy of well-bred girls of slender means and intriguing morals are leading lives of ritual femininity, plotting amongst themselves for the suitors who call to confer favours of clothing coupons, meals and more - until the interlude of innocence is destroyed by the tragedy and horror of the times...

The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie

'One of the greatest books about growing up' James Wood, Guardian 
 
'You girls are my vocation . . . I am dedicated to you in my prime' 
 
Miss Jean Brodie is a schoolmistress with a difference. She is proud, cultured and romantic but her educational ideas are highly progressive and even deeply shocking. So when she decides to transform a group of 'special girls' into the crème de la crème at Marcia Blaine School they are soon known, perhaps suspiciously, as the Brodie set. 
 
Introduced to an unsettling world of adult games and curious intrigues, the Brodie Set know that they are privileged. Yet there is a price to pay - they must give Miss Brodie their undivided loyalty . . . 
 
'The most gifted and innovative British novelist of her generation' David Lodge, The New York Times 
 
'Spark's novels linger in the mind as brilliant shards' John Updike, New Yorker

The most gifted and innovative British novelist of her generation

Spark's most celebrated novel. This ruthlessly and destructively romantic school ma'am is one of the giants of post-war fiction

Spark's novels linger in the mind as brilliant shards

One of the greatest books about growing up

"Clever and elegant" is very acute as a catch-all description of Muriel Spark's appeal

Muriel Spark was born and educated in Edinburgh. She was active in the field of creative writing since 1950, when she won a short-story writing competition in the Observer, and her many subsequent novels include Memento Mori (1959), The Ballad of Peckham Rye (1960), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), The Girls of Slender Means (1963) and Aiding and Abetting (2000). She also wrote plays, poems, children's books and biographies. She became Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1993, and died in 2006.

'You girls are my vocation . . . I am dedicated to you in my prime' 
 
Miss Jean Brodie is a schoolmistress with a difference. She is proud, cultured and romantic but her educational ideas are highly progressive and even deeply shocking. So when she decides to transform a group of 'special girls' into the crème de la crème at Marcia Blaine School they are soon known, perhaps suspiciously, as the Brodie set. 
 
Introduced to an unsettling world of adult games and curious intrigues, the Brodie Set know that they are honoured and privileged. Yet there is a price to pay - they must give Miss Brodie their undivided loyalty . . .

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

One of the BBC's '100 Novels that Shaped the World' 
A Hay Festival and The Poole VOTE 100 BOOKS for Women Selection 
 
Muriel Spark's classic The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie features a schoolmistress you'll never forget, in this beautifully repackaged Penguin Essentials edition. 
 
'Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life . . .' 
 
Passionate, free-thinking and unconventional, Miss Brodie is a teacher who exerts a powerful influence over her group of 'special girls' at Marcia Blaine School. They are the Brodie set, the crème de la crème, each famous for something - Monica for mathematics, Eunice for swimming, Rose for sex - who are initiated into a world of adult games and extracurricular activities they will never forget. But the price they pay is their undivided loyalty . . . 
 
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is a brilliantly comic novel featuring one of the most unforgettable characters in all literature. 
 
'Muriel Spark's novels linger in the mind as brilliant shards' John Updike 
 
'Spark's most celebrated novel' Independent 
 
'There is no question about the quality and distinctiveness of her writing, with its quirky concern with human nature, and its comedy' William Boyd 
 
'A brilliant psychological figure' Observer 
 
Muriel Spark was born and educated in Edinburgh. She was active in the field of creative writing since 1950, when she won a short-story writing competition in the Observer, and her many subsequent novels include Memento Mori (1959), The Ballad of Peckham Rye (1960), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), The Girls of Slender Means (1963) and Aiding and Abetting (2000). She also wrote plays, poems, children's books and biographies. She became Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1993, and died in 2006.

There is no question about the quality and distinctiveness of her writing, with its quirky concern with human nature, and its comedy

'Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life . . .' 
 
Passionate, free-thinking and unconventional, Miss Brodie is a teacher who exerts a powerful influence over her group of 'special girls' at Marcia Blaine School. They are the Brodie set, the crème de la crème, each famous for something - Monica for mathematics, Eunice for swimming, Rose for sex - who are initiated into a world of adult games and extracurricular activities they will never forget. But the price they pay is their undivided loyalty . . .

The Ballad of Peckham Rye

<a href="https://shop.penguin.co.uk/collections/book-bundles-modern-classics/?&amp;utm_source=Penguin.co.uk&amp;utm_medium=Linked_text&amp;utm_campaign=Penguin_Modern_Classics_Series_26_06">Choose 3 timeless classics for only £21 over on the Penguin Shop</a>

New to Modern Classics alongside Spark's The Drivers' Seat (ISBN: 0141188340)

Muriel Spark (born February 1, 1918) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. She began writing seriously after the war, beginning with poetry and literary criticism. In 1947, she became editor of the Poetry Review. Her first novel The Comforters was published in 1957, but it was The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1962) which established her reputation. After living in New York for some years, she settled in Italy in the late 1960s. She became Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1993.

A man of devilish charm and enterprising spirit, Dougal Douglas is employed to revitalize the ailing firm of Meadows, Meade & Grindley. He succeeds, but not quite in the way his employer intended. Strange things begin to happen as Dougal exerts an uncanny influence on the inhabitants of Peckham Rye and brings lies, tears, blackmail and even murder into the lives of all he meets, from Miss Merle Coverdale, head of the typing pool, to Beauty, the resident femme fatale, and even Mr Druce, the unsuspecting Managing Director himself.

Girls of Slender Means, Driver's Seat & the Only Problem

Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

All four novels give evidence of one of the most original and unmistakable voices in contemporary fiction.

The brevity of Muriel Spark's novels is equaled only by their brilliance. These four novels, each a miniature masterpiece, illustrate her development over four decades. Despite the seriousness of their themes, all four are fantastic comedies of manners, bristling with wit. 
Spark's most celebrated novel, THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, tells the story of a charismatic schoolteacher's catastrophic effect on her pupils. THE GIRLS OF SLENDER MEANS is a beautifully drawn portrait of young women living in a hostel in London in the giddy postwar days of 1945. THE DRIVER'S SEAT follows the final haunted hours of a woman descending into madness. And THE ONLY PROBLEM is a witty fable about suffering that brings the Book of Job to bear on contemporary terrorism. 
 
Characters are vividly etched in a few words; earth-shaking events are lightly touched on. Yet underneath the glittering surface there is an obsessive probing of metaphysical questions: the meaning of good and evil, the need for salvation, the search for significance.

One of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World' 
 
'A sublimely funny book ... it is a book to be read by all ... unforgettable and universal' Candia McWilliam 
 
Romantic, heroic, comic and tragic, unconventional schoolmistress Jean Brodie has become an iconic figure in post-war fiction. Her glamour, unconventional ideas and manipulative charm hold dangerous sway over her girls at the Marcia Blaine Academy - 'the crème de la crème' - who become the Brodie 'set', introduced to a privileged world of adult games that they will never forget. Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie was adapted into a successful stage play, and later a film directed by Ronald Neame and starring Maggie Smith.

When an unbridled schoolmistress with advanced ideas is in her prime the classroom can take on a new identity and no one can predict what will happen. Jean Brodie is a teacher whose unconventional ideas put her at odds with the other members of staff at the Marcia Blaine School in Edinburgh, as she endeavours to shape the lives of the select group of girls who form her &quot;set&quot;.

Muriel Spark

Muriel Spark claimed The Driver’s Seat to be her best and creepiest novel. Once you have met her heroine Lise – heading for the holiday of a lifetime in an extraordinarily garish dress and with violence on her mind – you will understand why.

Muriel Spark

Books by Muriel Spark

Series by Muriel Spark

Everyman’s Library Contemporary Classics169 Books

Penguin Archive90 Books

Articles featuring Muriel Spark

Short books to read when you’re overwhelmed

The most memorable teachers in books

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