Rowland and Nina run a small finishing school, which moves almost yearly just ahead of its outstanding bills. They offer a varied curriculum suitable for teenage boys and girls, scions of wealthy families, on the verge of becoming whomever it is they might become and requiring just a touch of finishing to, so to speak, finish them off. Perhaps unsurprisingly one of the favourite classes offered is Rowland’s creative writing course. That and Nina’s comme il faut class, where they learn such tidbits as, in England, to eat asparagus with one’s fingers.

Chris is a red-haired student and, possibly, a genius. Or at least he is a writer who actually writes, unlike Rowland, who has been blocked on his novel for several years. Almost inevitably, Rowland develops an unhealthy envy of Chris’ productivity. And Chris develops an unhealthy need for Rowland’s envy. Nina just wants to find an intelligent, scholarly man she can devote herself to (Rowland having failed her in that regard). And the other students and staff have equally complicated hopes and histories all of which weave a tapestry worthy of a Lausanne wall. Situations ensue.

Well into her 80s, Muriel Spark’s last novel is just as sparkling and outlandish as those of her youth. Her characters are intriguing, her situations almost absurd, and the whole concoction a frothy delight.

Easily and gently recommended. ( )

Jealousy, obsession, sex. There's never a boring moment in a Spark.

Being her last book and published on this side of the new millennium, it was occasionally jarring when the novel makes a relatively modern reference. It also feels a bit more "resolved" than her other books. Moreover, I couldn't stop thinking about this tweet while I was reading. Recommended for the Spark enthusiast, but not as a debut. ( )

“You begin,” he said, “by setting your scene. You have to see your scene, either in reality or in imagination. For instance, from here you can see across the lake. But on a day like this you can’t see across the lake, it’s too misty. You can’t see the other side.” Rowland took off his reading glasses to stare at his creative writing class whose parents’ money was being thus spent: two boys and three girls around sixteen to seventeen years of age, some more, some a little less. “So,” he said, “you must just write, when you set your scene, ‘the other side of the lake was hidden in mist.’ Or if you want to exercise imagination, on a day like today, you can write, ‘The other side of the lake was just visible.’ But as you are setting the scene, don’t make any emphasis as yet. It’s too soon, for instance, for you to write, ‘The other side of the lake was hidden in the fucking mist.’ That will come later. You are setting your scene. You don’t want to make a point as yet.” ( )

Another very short, highly-packed book, in which the author hardly seems to be doing any work at all: most of the stories happen offstage and are merely hinted at in passing whilst the book appears to run on along its enjoyable trajectory by momentum alone. A nice trick if you can do it: Spark had had quite a bit of practice by the time she got this far.

Nina and Rowland run a small, unconventional school in Switzerland where rich parents can park their teenagers for a year or so. Rowland is also a writer, trying to complete his first novel, but he's unsettled by a growing obsession with one of his students, the 17-year-old Chris, who is writing an historical novel about Mary Queen of Scots and apparently making much better progress than Rowland. Chris's extreme youth and his red hair are already starting to arouse the interest of publishers, to Rowland's fury.

Spark in her eighties and with more than twenty novels behind her is having fun playing around with ideas about the difficulty of putting pen to paper, but there's also a lot of play with language that goes with the other end of the career - "finishing", "polishing off" and so on. And there are echoes of the writing-and-mental-health theme from The Comforters, and obviously allusions to the form and subject-matter of The prime of Miss Jean Brodie, right down to the final pages where she does a round-up of what has happened to all the students since. Plenty of dark themes lurking in the distance, but the mood is full of upbeat optimism. These young people might be lacking in all kinds of taste and values, but they more than make up for it by being so young and ready to enjoy life.

Sometimes novels written in extreme old age are a bit of an embarrassment, but this is one that makes you wish Spark had had time for a few more. ( )

breezy and swift, though aside from its ascerbic humor it had lacked gravity. The Finishing School was a Murdochian sketch pushed forward slightly into realization. The time twisted totems of education and affection pull up short of Don't Stand So Close To Me. ( )