The Blood Girls Book

A circle of elderly people in 1950's London are regularly phoned by a stranger who says only 'Remember, you must die,' before hanging up. There is Charmian whose popular novels are undergoing a resurgence of public interest. There is her husband, Godfrey Colston, the brewery magnate, now retired, whose adulteries never seem to go farther than a fugitive glimpse of ladies' stockings and garter clips, and even this may overstimulate him. There is Percy Mannering, the slobbering old poet and grandfather of 23 year old Olive Mannering, one of Godfrey's "whores." There is Eric Colston, the son, a loser, who may be based on Spark's own son, Robin, who fought with his mother tooth and nail, publically excoriating her for being a bad mother. There is Alec Warner who keeps up a torrent of note-taking and record-keeping of the circle's activities to no apparent end. There is retired Inspector Mortimer with the bad heart who views the hoax calls as coming from Death himself. There is the avaricious old servant Mrs. Pettigrew who is blackmailing Godfrey with his old adulteries. Finally, there's the late, libidinous Lisa Brooke, whose fortune might go to any one of these individuals. This dark comedy is a wonder of economy and judicious patterning. It was published in 1959 and has aged remarkably well. One might say it's ageless, as all true classics are. It can be enormously funny. The writing is always impressive. Read it.