The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie: Muriel Spark

Romantic, heroic, comic and tragic, unconventional schoolmistress Jean Brodie has become an iconic figure in post-war fiction. Her glamour, unconventional ideas and manipulative charm hold dangerous sway over her girls at the Marcia Blaine Academy - `the creme de la creme` - who become the Brodie `set`, introduced to a privileged world of adult games that they will never forget. Muriel Spark`s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie was adapted into a successful stage play, and later a film directed by Ronald Neame and starring Maggie Smith.