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Muriel Spark (b1918)
Who?
Dame Muriel Sarah Spark, neé Camberg, to you. The Scottish writer is most widely known for her story of an eccentric school mistress The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie which brilliantly illuminates quirky behaviour. She has also written poetry, short stories, plays and biography.
Must reads
The Comforters (1957), Memento Mori (1959), The Ballad of Peckham Rye (1960), The Bachelors (1961), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), Girls of Slender Means (1963), The Mandelbaum Gate (1965) and The Abbess of Crewe (1974).
Darkest hour
The failure of her marriage while she was in Africa in the 1940s.
Greatest triumph
Winning a short story competition in The Observer in 1951 with The Seraph and the Zambesi, which gave her the start she needed as a writer.
Essential quotes
'A short neck denotes a good mind . . . You see, the messages go quicker to the brain because they've shorter to go.' (The Ballad of Peckham Rye)
'I'm putting old heads on your young shoulders . . . all my pupils are the créme de la créme.' (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie)
'A nice girl should only fall in love once in her life.' (Girls of Slender Means)
Gossip
She worked for the UK Political Intelligence Department during the Second World War. The daughter of a Jewish engineer, she converted to Roman Catholicism in 1954.
Film versions
Maggie Smith was triumphant as Jean Brodie in a 1969 movie about the teacher.
What to say
Spark's novels, which are usually short, are elegant, sophisticated and often contain an element of the fable.
Don't say
Don't say anything in class, unless the teacher asks a question.
Copies of the featured books can be purchased from various suppliers including Amazon, Blackwell's and WHSmith.
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