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The Girls of Slender Means

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The Girls of Slender Means

By: Muriel Spark
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
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About this listen

It is 1945; a time of cultural and political change, and also one of slender means. Spark's evocative and sharply drawn novel focuses on a group of women living together in a hostel in Kensington who face new challenges in uncertain times. The novel is at once dramatic and character-based, and shows Muriel Spark at the height of her literary powers.

Juliet Stevenson reads with her customary wit and intelligence this powerful masterpiece. Rediscover The Girls of Slender Means in audiobook on the 100th anniversary of Muriel Spark's birth.

©2012 Canongate Books (P)2012 Canongate Books Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Funny

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I heard about this book from BBC’s “A Good Read” and of course had already heard of the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

It’s not the kind of book I usually read but I think it was on sale in Audible so I decided to give it a go.

It was cery well read/performed though without the Scottish accent I was expecting, I suppose because the story is set in London.

The story was very entertaining and engrossing. I listened to all but the final hour in one “sitting” and even laughed out loud a few times. The writing was so well done and so easy to listen to that it made time pass so quickly.

Highly recommended for a light, entertaining few hours.

I really enjoyed it - had not much expected to

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Having read this novel many years before, I decided to revisit it via Audible. I loved the use of extracts of poetry in each chapter the setting of the May of Teck club and the engaging cast of largely female characters. Spark is expert at creating humour but also manages to deliver a powerful emotional charge at the end. Well worth revisiting!

Super novel, delightfully constructed

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Narrator is great. Really great little book. Writer really takes you to the time and place. Great characters too.

Great listen

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This story of a group of women's friendship during WW2 is quaint but culminates in an eventful ending. Superboy narrated as usual by Juliet Stevenson, it is a real hidden gem.

Quietly Wonderful

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This “novelette” is set in immediate post II WW London. It’s a window into a crowd of predominantly women with a variety of personalities written in an amusing, succinct and elegant style.
There is a dry English humour, with razor like descriptions and scenes that capture the spirit of the times; and I’m sure an autobiographical element in her experiences of residences from where she has drawn inspiration for her characters.
Well crafted by MS and expertly performed by a narrator who could easily have been one of cast.

Succinct and elegant writing

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I just live this short novel and Juliet Stevenson reads it perfectly. She really brings out the dry humour in Muriel Spark's writing

perfect!

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Life in a hostel for young women in London at the end of World War 2. Immaculate reading by Juliet Stevenson of Muriel Spark’s unforgettable, sad and funny, novel.

Perfection

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I loved this short novel. The quality is high and there is nothing to complain about with it.

Great

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Juliet Stevenson was a wonderful narrator. Every character was differentiated and both male and female voices were excellent. I found I didn’t like any of the characters enough to love the book until almost the end. For me, it took too long to get going.

A slow start.

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This is a very well observed tale of the neglected side of social history - the lives of women. The tale is based in a residential Club for women of a sort that no longer exists. The Club enabled women to live and work in London whilst unable to afford independent accomodation. The author narrates the tale from the view of a resident of the club. Whilst the events of the story make for an anjoyable read in themselves, and are revealed at just the right pace to keep you reading, it is the insights which the author gives you that are so fascinating. As the various women in the Club react to the events around them she brings out different views and opinions in a manner that is entirely believable and consistent with her characters. She also creates very understandable male characters where she needs them but it is the female voice that carries the story and the female viewpoint which makes it so interesting.

I enjoyed this even more than The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, the only other book I have read of hers, and would heartily recommend it to anyone for the story and even more so for the observations and inights.

Juliet Stevenson's reading is excellent. She get just the right tone for each of the character to the extent that you cannot imagine how else they might have sounded. My benchmark for excellence for readers is Murial Margolyes's superb reading of Bleak House in the Audible Dickens Collection and this is up there with it.

Extremely good reading of a very enjoyable book

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