" College Sunrise is a somewhat louche and vaguely disreputable finishing school located, for now, in Lausanne, Switzerland. Rowland Mahler and his wife, Nina, run the school as a way to support themselves while he works, somewhat falteringly, on his novel.

Into Rowland’s creative writing class comes seventeen-year-old Chris Wiley, a red-haired literary prodigy whose historical novel-in-progress, on Mary Queen of Scots, has already excited the interest of publishers. The inevitable result: keen envy, and a game of cat and mouse fraught with jealousy and attraction, both literary and sexual. "

This is a small but very enjoyable book. I started it yesterday and finished it quite fast, at a time where I'm facing a bit of trouble of getting into books. Muriel Spark writes beautifully, and the characters have depth, even though it's such a small book. I'm looking forward to reading more books from this author.

Here goes this book, chosen from the VBB - Women in Fiction. I hope you enjoy it. :D

Book has arrived safely. Thank you for sharing :-)

After Reading “Yellowface”, it was good to read another book about literary rivalry… Although “The Finishing School” turned out to be less thrilling.

In a very peculiar college in Switzerland, run by Rowland and Nina, his wife, there is a seventeen-year-old student, Chris, who is working on a “literary success”, coveted by a few publishers. Rowland, also an aspiring writer, is full of jealousy and quite obsessed with Chris, not even noticing that he is becoming a pitiful character to everyone around him.

I like Muriel Spark´s writing, so matter-of-fact, with plenty of irony. But I was expecting a different outcome from all that accumulating tension and rivalry. Nevertheless, a pleasant read.