I would urge anyone - not just Muriel Spark fans - interested in the novel - as art form, as social critique - to listen to this podcast and the rest of the series. This one is exemplary - two articulate experts in conversation, bringing out the many layers of both works, contextualising them and sharing their obvious enthusiasm for the novels and Spark's oeuvre as a whole. And if the result is getting you (re)read the works then job done. Like many of my generation, watching the film of '...Jean Brodie' lead me to the novels, and 'Spark-ed' (sorry) a life long interest. I'm too scared to say how long ago I read 'The Girls of Slender Means' but still remember its impact - so much wit, so much intelligence, so much emotion in such a slim volume. When I was reading about Spark's novels 'Mandelbaum Gate' was always classed as 'a failure' so I put off reading it probably until about a decade ago. It is certainly no failure - different in some aspects from other Spark novels (not only its length) but typical in its ability to tackle serious philosophical/ theological /ethical issues in a seemingly light-touch style. 'Girls...' is a good place to start for new readers, I think.
