‘By 1960, Spark was a novelist of some renown. But it was her next novel, her sixth, which would make her famous and well off enough to determine where and how she wanted to live, and the books she would write. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is near perfect in its design and execution. It is at once traditional and experimental. Rich in period detail, it is nevertheless as spare and taut as one of Simenon’s thrillers and as light as a soufflé… So reliable was her income from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie that she gratefully called it her ‘milch cow’. Readers may feel the same for it is a novel that never palls; it pleases and perplexes and produces surprises with every reading, and, like all great books, it is ageless, vindication of why its inspired creator became a novelist.’ From the introduction by Alan Taylor
This is one novel in the absolutely glorious, must-have, complete collection of all 22 novels by Muriel Spark. This series is a wonderful way to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Muriel Spark’s birth. Edited by Alan Taylor, author of Appointment In Arezzo, A Friendship with Muriel Spark, each perfectly sized and beautiful hardback book is introduced by a leading writer. Each introduction, while individually touching on thoughts and feelings, mentions the originality, the wit and humour, the cleverness of the writing. Whether an existing fan, or new to her works, this collection from one of our greatest writers, beckons, and quite simply, just asks to be read and re-read. ~ Lovereading.co.uk
| Primary Genre | Classic fiction: general and literary |
| Other Genres: |
'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 Prime of Miss Jean Brodie features in the following genres: Classic fiction: general and literary, Young Adult Fiction, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Classic fiction, General Fiction, Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is available in Hardback, Paperback, CD-Audio
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie was written by Muriel Spark and published by Penguin Books an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie has 127 pages
£9.89