'The Girls of Slender Means', first edition, 1963.
Drawing on her own experiences, Muriel Spark's darkly comic novel deploys an ensemble cast of 'Ladies from Good Families of Modest Means'.
But as one character notes: 'She did not see the May of Teck Club as a microcosmic ideal society; far from it'.
Add an unexploded bomb to the already volatile mix …