Penguin Modern Classics: The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie

Romantic, heroic, comic and tragic, unconventional schoolmistress Jean Brodie has become an iconic figure in post-war fiction. Her glamour, freethinking ideas and manipulative charm hold dangerous sway over her girls at the Marcia Blaine Academy.

Passionate, free-thinking and unconventional, Miss Brodie is a teacher who exerts a powerful influence over her group of “special girls” at Marcia Blaine School. They are the Brodie set, the creme de la creme, each famous for something – Monica for mathematics, Eunice for swimming, Rose for sex – who are initiated into a world of adult games and extracurricular activities that they will never forget.

Muriel Spark’s brilliantly comic novel has been memorably adapted for the stage and as a film starring Maggie Smith, confirming Jean Brodie’s place as one of the best-loved characters in 20th century fiction.