The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

By now I'm sure that Miss Jean Brodie and her prime are better known from the film than from the original novel. The film, and the absolutely wonderful stage production that preceded it in London with Vanessa Redgrave as the first Brodie, caught one side, the caricature side, of Muriel Spark's immortal creation, but the story is a more complex matter altogether, short though the book is. Any story by Muriel Spark is complex... Read Full Review

Students who are forced to read this slender but pithy novel in high school or university classes often dismiss it was being 'about nothing', or just a dead bore. Which is a shame, as this powerful novel from Muriel Spark is one that needs to be appreciated and taken seriously - and enjoyed - by all readers, whether those in high school or those who lecture on it to classrooms of bored university students. Perhaps the lack... Read Full Review

As a teacher and department chair, I find myself alternating between Miss Brodie and Miss Mackay in my daily life. The Miss Brodies of the world are fascinating, inspiring creatures--they make us want to learn and to believe in having a mission. Yet, also like Miss Brodie, they can be dangerous, when their style either masks a lack of substance or a very foggy understanding of the implications of the ideologies behind... Read Full Review