{"product_id":"9781400042067","title":"The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Girls of Slender Means, The Driver's Seat, The Only Problem","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe brevity of Muriel Spark’s novels is equaled only by their brilliance. These four novels, each a miniature masterpiece, illustrate her development over four decades. Despite the seriousness of their themes, all four are fantastic comedies of manners, bristling with wit.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSpark’s most celebrated novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Prime of Miss Jean Brodie\u003c\/i\u003e, tells the story of a charismatic schoolteacher’s catastrophic effect on her pupils. \u003ci\u003eThe Girls of Slender Means \u003c\/i\u003eis a beautifully drawn portrait of young women living in a hostel in London in the giddy postwar days of 1945. \u003ci\u003eThe Driver’s Seat \u003c\/i\u003efollows the final haunted hours of a woman descending into madness. And \u003ci\u003eThe Only Problem \u003c\/i\u003eis a witty fable about suffering that brings the Book of Job to bear on contemporary terrorism.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAll four novels give evidence of one of the most original and unmistakable voices in contemporary fiction. Characters are vividly etched in a few words; earth-shaking events are lightly touched on. Yet underneath the glittering surface there is an obsessive probing of metaphysical questions: the meaning of good and evil, the need for salvation, the search for significance.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Muriel Spark","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":46886890340564,"sku":"9781400042067","price":40.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1000\/9208\/files\/BNCImageAPI_6c4f438c-2e42-4b26-bda0-24e0400d4df1.jpg?v=1757370261","url":"https:\/\/penguinshop.ca\/products\/9781400042067","provider":"Penguin Shop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}