Paperback. Orange cover with black title.

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• A FROST PAPERBACK is a loved book which a member of the Frost family has checked for condition, completeness and readability. When the buyer collects their book, the delivery charge of £3.00 is not made 

The book is titled “The Bachelors” by Muriel Spark, first published in 1960, with a Penguin Books paperback edition available in 1963. The novel follows a group of London bachelors who become entangled in a lawsuit after being defrauded by Patrick Seton, a spiritualist and alleged medium.  

Key Details 

• Author: Muriel Spark
• Title: The Bachelors
• Original Publication: 1960
• Penguin Books Edition: 1963
• Setting: London

Plot Summary

• The novel centers on Patrick Seton, a spiritualist accused of defrauding a widow out of her life savings. 
• As Seton faces trial, he begins to plan the murder of his pregnant girlfriend, adding a dark element to the unfolding events. 
• Seton’s impending trial pulls his friends and acquaintances, a collection of wealthy and varied bachelors, into a web of legal trouble, fraud, and blackmail, ultimately leading to a criminal prosecution. 

Significance 

• Evelyn Waugh, a fellow writer, described the novel as “the cleverest and most elegant of all Mrs Spark’s clever and elegant books”.
• The book offers a “biting comedy of English manners,” as the title suggests, satirizing the lives of its characters.

This is one of the 22 novels written by Muriel Spark in her lifetime.

Muriel Spark (1918–2006) was a prolific Scottish novelist, short story writer, and poet whose darkly comedic voice made her one of the most distinctive writers of the twentieth century. Spark grew up in Edinburgh and worked as a department store secretary, writer for trade magazines, and literary editor before publishing her first novel in 1957. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), considered her masterpiece, was made into a stage play, a TV series, and a film. Spark became a Dame of the British Empire in 1993