On one level, it is a blithely carnivorous satire in the Waugh mould. The bachel
ors of the title - almost the only men we meet in the narrative - are the thirty
-something male barristers, teachers, journalists and museum attendants of a sma
ll patch of West London. They lead inturned, doddery, superannuated lives, potte
ring between grocers, coffee-houses, bedsits and the houses of their mothers and
aunts.
But the comedy here is serious in a way that Waugh's satanically energet
ic comedies of misery rarely are ...comedies of English manners have seldom been
darker' Daily Telegraph 'My admiration for Spark's contribution to world litera
ture knows no bounds. She was peerless, sparkling, inventive and intelligent - t
he creme de la creme' Ian Rankin 'Muriel Spark's novels linger in the mind as br
illiant shards, decisive as a smashed glass is decisive' John Updike, New Yorker
