Books by Brigid Brophy

First published in 1964, The Snow Ball is arguably Brigid Brophy's most brilliant fictional performance, consummately melding her avid interests in opera, sexuality and psychology.It is New Year's Eve in London. The occasion is a costume ball on an eighteenth-century theme in the grand London residence of Tom and four-times-married Anne. Anna K attends alone, dressed as Donna Anna from Mozart's Don Giovanni, unhappily preoccupied by her age and appearance and a general distaste for the occasion. But when at midnight she meets a masked Don who kisses her on the mouth, she wonders if this mystery man might share her personal obsessions - 'Mozart, sex and death' - and whether a closer union is not meant to be.'Written with considerable expertise... An air of indulgent, extravagant corruption and decay glitters over [the novel].' Kirkus Reviews

Nancy meets Marcus at a party. He is untidy, nervous, shy: women have never paid him any attention. But here is virgin clay from which Nancy can mould her Adam. She marries him, and on their wedding night Marcus realises he is as much her protege in sex as in other fields. But soon he is confident that, under her guiding hands, he had been transformed into a consummate lover; and he begins to feel the urge to slip his leash.'Elegant, funny and erotic... a good showcase for [Brophy's] perceptions on life and art, her wit and her dazzling prose.' Telegraph'Sly and sophisticated and written in a deceptively simple manner.' Kirkus Reviews'Brophy has the enviable knack of combining precision with suggestiveness.' Saturday Review

The tweedy Miss Hetty Braid worships the lovely but selfish Miss Antonia Mount, her co-proprietor at the most exclusive finishing school on the French Riviera. The girls they teach are quite remarkable, though hardly in the sense of academic distinction. But trouble looms when Antonia announces that 'Royalty is coming.' The great day arrives, and though at first things go tolerably well, disaster springs from good intentions.This Faber Finds edition includes a 1987 introduction by Brigid Brophy and a new preface by Sir Peter Stothard.'A wicked little entertainment... plaubly not meant for the moralists or naive.' Evening Standard'An outrageously indelicate joke made in beautifully mannered prose.' Daily Herald'Waspish and witty.' TLS