Miss Jean Brodie is a magnetic minor fascist -- which surprised me, knowing little about the book beforehand except that a.) it was made into a movie starring Maggie Smith and b.) that this cover is cute and also very twee.

But what Spark does here is let the reader see with the eyes of the "Brodie set," of six distinctive girls who follow their teacher in and out of the classroom from their pre-adolescent through their teenage years. We move with Sandy, Rose, Jenny, Monica, Eunice, and Mary from the experience of the starry-eyed Miss Brodie who takes them to movies and art exhibitions when they are ten to the self-elected "spinster" past her prime who schemes that one of her set will inherit her sexual affair with a married teacher (this while the girl is only 15). As the girls -- especially Sandy -- come of age and gain clarity, slips of Miss Brodie's egomania, manipulations, and fascist leanings come out, all encased in the silly frivolity that charmed the girls when they were young. This progress of characters through hindsight is very cleverly done, a technique for any aspiring writer to admire.

And the book is funny too. Especially when the characters are young girls, learning about sex. Sandy's mental response to her friend Jenny's ordeal with a flasher is one of the funniest things I've read in what seems like a long time. Spark's wit and the undercurrent of unpleasantness hidden beneath charm that so pleases me when it's found in female authors guarantees that I'll be looking for more of her work.