The Girls of Slender Means

“In a day when so many writers seem to write so much alike, it is a delight to discover one who writes like no one except herself. Muriel Spark, an aloof, sharp-eyed Scotswoman, is such a writer, and her most noticeable characteristics are, of course, her wit, her absolute pitch in dialogue, her economy of style and her sedulous avoidance of sentiment. These might add up to dryness, but in Miss Spark’s work, they do not. Her very skirting of the sensibilities is a sign of a how fully aware of them she is, as she proved especially in her unerring picture of the old in Memento Mori and as she now proves again in this story about the young, The Girls of Slender Means...those who seek new dimensions in their reading will find this to be Miss Spark’s most interesting piece of work.” —New York Times

“Muriel Spark’s novels linger in the mind as brilliant shards, decisive as a smashed glass is decisive.” —John Updike, New Yorker

“Spark, as usual, has perfectly plotted and peopled this giddy world of postwar delirium and girls’ dormitory life.” —Library Journal

“Muriel Spark’s gift for characters and dialogue make this little book both satirical and compassionate in its vision…Entertaining and illuminating reading.” —Sonja Larson, 500 Great Books by Women