The Girls of Slender Means
Written by Muriel Spark / Introduction by Rosemary Goring
£9.99
266 in stock
Fiction
Reviews
Hers is a rare get-on-with-it wit. Especially in a depressed society — one recovering from some collective crisis, like a war (or perhaps a pandemic) — those of “slender means,” to some extent everyone, must make a personal, moral choice about the kind of person they are to be'
National Review (USA)
As I entered my teens, I developed a taste for more arch, snappy writing and discovered the joys of Muriel Spark. Wisdom and wit — ideal for an impressionable youth finding his way in the world'
Daily Mail
About the Book
London, 1945. The girls of slender means are the residents of the May of Teck Club, a genteel yet rather shabby boarding house established for the ‘social protection of ladies of slender means below the age of thirty years’. The novel concerns their everyday affairs over a period of a few weeks before a shocking event transforms their lives.
This is one of the 22 novels written by Muriel Spark in her lifetime. All are being published by Polygon in hardback Centenary Editions between November 2017 and September 2018.
The Authors
Muriel Spark
Muriel Spark was born in Edinburgh in 1918. A poet, essayist, biographer and novelist, she won much international praise, including being twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The Times placed her eighth in its list of the Fifty Greatest British Writers Since 1945. She died in Tuscany in 2006.Rosemary Goring
Rosemary Goring was born in Dunbar and studied at the University of St Andrews. She worked at W&R Chambers as a reference editor before becoming literary editor of Scotland on Sunday. She was also the literary editor for The Herald and Sunday Herald, and is the author of two historical novels, After Flodden and Dacre's War.Alan Taylor
Alan Taylor has contributed to numerous publications, including The TLS, The New Yorker and The Melbourne Age, and edited four acclaimed anthologies – The Assassin’s Cloak (2000), The Secret Annexe (2004), The Country Diaries (2009) and most recently, Glasgow: The Autobiography (2016).Related
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Hardback | Pub: 06 Sep 2018£9.99Often described as the perfect partner to The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Spark’s last novel is set in Switzerland where Rowland and his wife Nina run a finishing school. Murderous jealousy soon rears its head when a precocious young student shows...
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Paperback | Pub: 05 Jul 2018£4.99In November 2017 Ali Smith gave the annual Muriel Spark Lecture to kick off the Muriel Spark centenary celebrations. Those lucky enough to get tickets were treated to an invigorating, joyous call-and-response between two of our best writers, both...
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Hardback | Pub: 08 Feb 2018£9.99
Spiritualist and extortionist Patrick Seton is coming up for trial. He’s been accused of forgery, and suddenly West London’s bachelors are all in a tizzy. Described by Evelyn Waugh as the ‘cleverest and most elegant of all Mrs Spark’s clever...
