The Finishing School - Softcover

Spark, Muriel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1400077397 ISBN 13: 9781400077397

Publisher: Anchor Books, 2005

Synopsis

From Muriel Spark, the grande dame of literary satire, comes this swift, deliciously witty tale of writerly ambition that recalls her beloved The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.College Sunrise is a somewhat louche and vaguely disreputable finishing school located, for now, in Lausanne, Switzerland. Rowland Mahler and his wife, Nina, run the school as a way to support themselves while he works, somewhat falteringly, on his novel. Into Rowland's creative writing class comes seventeen-year-old Chris Wiley, a red-haired literary prodigy whose historical novel-in-progress, on Mary Queen of Scots, has already excited the interest of publishers. The inevitable result: keen envy, and a game of cat and mouse fraught with jealousy and attraction, both literary and sexual.

About this title

Review:

The elegantly written The Finishing School reminds us again of Muriel Spark's unique talent, combining a wry sympathy for human behaviour with a clear-eyed assessment of our foibles. All her books, from the The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie to the lesser known volumes, possess an insinuating charm and an understated but often lethal satirical thrust; few middle-class absurdities have gone unanalysed.

The Finishing School is concise but it has all the insinuating charm of her best work. Rowland Mahler and his wife Nina run a mixed-sex finishing school called College Sunrise. Rowland has aspirations as a novelist but he has an unconscious rival--a talented pupil, Chris--whose literary efforts effortlessly outpace Rowland's. Soon a poisonous atmosphere suffuses the school as Rowland falls prey to agonies of jealousy. Spark has always been good at the tensions and rivalries of the school environment, and her touch is as sure as ever in this highly diverting piece. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

"An empress of literary sleight of hand. . . . What grace and beauty she's still displaying during the golden days and starlit nights of her absolutely marvelous career." -The Washington Post"Ingeniously comic. . . . Spark has packed a multitude of twists and turns into this relatively brief novel, and the action skims along merrily from one surprising revelation to the next." -Los Angeles Times Book Review"The Finishing School has all the ingredients of her best-known fiction." -The New York Times"Delicious. . . . A deft new comic novel. . . . Spark remains a master of quick-stroke portraiture and trenchant moral investigation." -The Seattle Times"A youthful academic comedy. . . . Her style . . . remains as sharp, even shocking, as it's always been." -The New York Times Book Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1400077397
• ISBN 13: 9781400077397
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192