Description: From the renowned author of THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE comes a tragic and rapier-witted portrait of a London ladies' hostel just emerging from the shadow of World War II. In 1945 the lady inhabitants do their best to act as if the world were back to normal, but the novel's harrowing ending reveals that the women's giddy literary and amorous peregrinations are hiding some tragically painful war wounds.
Brief description: Muriel Spark (1918-2006) was the author of dozens of novels, including The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Memento Mori, A Far Cry from Kensington, The Girls of Slender Means, The Ballad of Peckham Rye, The Driver's Seat, and many more. She became Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993.
Review Quotes: Spark writes with a light comic touch, but there's an undertone of a kind of existential desperation.--Patrick T. Reardon "Chicago Tribune"