Beautifully packaged reissue of Muriel Spark's best loved novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' You girls are my vocation I am dedicated to you in my prime' Miss Jean Brodie is a schoolmistress with a difference She is proud cultured & romantic but her educational ideas are highly progressive & even deeply shocking So when she decides to transform a group of 'special girls' into the creme de la creme at Marcia Blaine School they are soon known perhaps suspiciously as the Brodie set Introduced to an unsettling world of adult games & curious intrigues the Brodie Set know that they are honoured & privileged Yet there is a price to pay
- they must give Miss Brodie their undivided loyalty ' The most gifted & innovative British novelist of her generation' David Lodge The New York Times' Spark's novels linger in the mind as brilliant shards' John Updike New Yorker' One of the greatest books about growing up' James Wood Guardian Muriel Spark was born & educated in Edinburgh She was active in the field of creative writing since 1950 when she won a short-story writing competition in the Observer & her many subsequent novels include Memento Mori (1959) The Ballad of Peckham Rye (1960) The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) The Girls of Slender Means (1963) & Aiding & Abetting (2000) She also wrote plays poems children's books & biographies She became Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1993 & died in 2006
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Miss Jean Brodie is a rare breed of teacher
- passionate independent-minded & romantically inspired with not the slightest care
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Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Includes:: an introduction by Candia Mc William in Penguin Modern

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Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Maggie Smith stars in the film which won her an Academy Award for Best Actress THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE “I am in the business of putting old heads on young shoulders & all my pupils are the crème de la crème Give me a girl at an impressionable age & she’ll be mine for life I am dedicated to you in my prime” Edinburgh 1932 The world is on the cusp of change & at the forefront leading the charge is the estimable Miss Brodie teacher at the Marcia Blaine School for girls As a new term begins for Miss Brodie she is fully prepared For whatever the subject Miss Brodie is adept at bringing it around to the experiences girls should look forward to when they too are in their prime Meanwhile Miss Brodie’s personal life is not so clear cut torn as she is between the passionate advances of a young married artist & the more conservative desires of a mature associate she nevertheless manages to walk a strident path somewhere between the two But Miss Brodie’s philosophy for living rubs up against the school’s rigid moral standards & when one of her young charges is inspired into a tragic act of foolhardy bravery an act of almost religious betrayal follows that will shake the firm convictions of Miss Brodie to the core ...

The Tarot talks but is anyone listening? In the heart of South West London just a short stroll from the Thames lies an enclosed & overgrown bike path & a single row of cottages Foremost among Tinderbox Lane's hotchpotch of loyal residents is professional Tarot reader Dolly Greene divorced & permanently broke she shares her tiny house with her 21-year-old daughter Pippa When one stiflingly hot summer's day Dolly reads the cards for the hedonistic Nikki her usually professional patter is interrupted by a sudden vision
- a flash of Nikki's face covered in blood & bruises A few days later when the body of a battered woman is washed up by Chiswick Bridge Dolly is haunted by the belief that Nikki's time may have come but can she be sure? & how far is Dolly prepared to go to act on her intuition?' It's a pleasure to be in the company of Ms Dolly Greene She's smart warm-hearted & a touch psychic
- perfect qualities for a sleuth' Frances Brody' This book is a must read for any Tarot enthusiast or indeed any whodunnit fan' Avril Price Tarot Consultant College of Psychic Studies London' Agatha Christie fans will love The Prime of Ms Dolly Greene' Yours

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Harper Collins is proud to present its new range of best-loved essential classics We have declared before that it is not only expedient but necessary for a prince to take care his foundations be good otherwise his fabric will be sure to fail' Considered one of the first works of modern philosophy Machiavelli's The Prince is an intense study on the nature of power & the course it should take when ruling a country & expresses the author's strong & unyielding ideals & beliefs on using force rather than law to achieve your aims Responsible for the widely-used phrase Machiavellian' with all of its negative connotations his extreme treatise remains a classic text to this day ...

Niccolo Machiavelli's brutally uncompromising manual of statecraft The Prince is translated & edited with an introduction by Tim Parks in Penguin Classics As a diplomat in turbulent fifteenth-century Florence Niccolo Machiavelli knew how quickly political fortunes could rise & fall The Prince his tough-minded pragmatic handbook on how power really works made his name notorious & has remained controversial ever since How can a leader be strong & decisive yet still inspire loyalty in his followers? When is it necessary to break the rules? Is it better to be feared than loved? Examining regimes & their rulers the world over & throughout history from Roman Emperors to renaissance Popes from Hannibal to Cesare di Borgia Machievalli answers all these questions in a work of realpolitik that still has shrewd political lessons for today Tim Parks's acclaimed contemporary translation renders Machiavelli's no-nonsense original as alarming & enlightening as when it was first written His introduction discusses Machiavelli's life & reputation & explores the historical background to the work Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) was born in Florence & served the Florentine republic as a secretary & second chancellor as ambassador & foreign policy-maker When the Medici family returned to power in 1512 he was suspected of conspiracy imprisoned & tortured & forced to retire from public life His most famous work The Prince was written in an attempt to gain favour with the Medicis & return to politics If you enjoyed The Prince you might like Plato's Republic also available in Penguin Classics'A gripping work & a gripping translation' Nicholas Lezard Guardian' Tim Parks's swift & supple new translation brings out all its chilling modernity' Boyd Tonkin Independent ...

'A prince must not have any other object nor any other thoughtbut war its institutions & its discipline; because that is the only art befitting one who commands' When Machiavelli's brief treatise on Renaissance statecraft & princely power was posthumously published in 1532 it generated a debate that has raged unabated until the present day Based upon Machiavelli's first-hand experience as an emissary of the Florentine Republic to the courts of Europe The Prince analyses the usually violent means by which men seize retain & lose political power Machiavelli added a dimension of incisive realism to one of the major philosophical & political issues of his time especially the relationship between public deeds & private morality His book provides a remarkably uncompromising picture of the true nature of power no matter in what era or by whom it is exercised This fluent new translation is accompanied by comprehensive notes & an introduction that considers the true purpose of The Prince & dispels some of the myths associated with it ABOUT THE SERIES For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more ...

Translated by CEDetmold With an Introduction by Lucille Margaret Kekewich Written in 1513 for the Medici following their return to power in Florence The Prince is a handbook on ruling & the exercise of power It remains as relevant today as it was in the sixteenth century Widely"ed in the Press & in academic publications The Prince has direct relevance to the issues of business & corporate governance confronting global corporations as they enter a new millennium Much of what Machiavelli wrote has become the common currency of realpolitik yet still his ideas retain the power to shock & annoy In the words of Norman Stone The Prince is 'a manual of man-management that would suit a great many parts of the modern world' ...

Born in Florence in 1469 Niccolo Machiavelli was one of the principal secretaries to the Signoria at Florence & undertook diplomatic missions to various courts before his imprisonment & exile To"e his own words this book discusses "what a principality is what kinds there are how they can be acquired how they can be kept & why they are lost" The book was written at a crisis when Machiavelli considered the case of Italy so desperate that it could hope for salvation only by the intervention of a powerful despot The significance of this work today is that it marks a stage in the development of the scientific method whether in statecraft or in general political analysis ...