The Bachelors is a novel written in 1960 by the Scottish author Muriel Spark, referred to by The New York Times as "the most gifted and innovative British novelist". It follows a group of British bachelors whose misogynistic world is shattered when they suddenly find themselves the target of blackmail and fraud.
The main characters, the bachelors, are: a barrister, a "priest", a detective, a love-seeking Irishman, a handwriting expert, and a mastermind of a spiritual medium. In this story they arc from complete contentment, sitting cozily about in their London clubs and shopping on Oxford Street, to be troubled by various causes, ranging from fraud to blackmail. They all end up involved in a court case, a criminal prosecution for forgery and fraud, with the trial being the climax of the action. In the centre of the story stands the main character, the pale Patrick Seton, the medium, while the other bachelors are tormented by every cause — epileptic fits, forgeries, malignant spiritualism and, last but not least, murder.
Principal characters
Patrick Seton, a spiritualist who is being prosecuted for fraudulent conversion by Freda Flower, a past admirer, whilst at the same time plotting the murder of his current girlfriend Alice Dawes, who is pregnant and refuses to 'get rid' of the baby.
Ronald Bridges, a handwriting expert who suffers from epilepsy and is being called to examine a letter supposedly written by Freda asking Patrick to use the enclosed cheque for £2000 to 'further his psychic and spiritualistic work'. Freda claims she gave the cheque to Patrick to invest in bonds on her behalf.
Elsie Forrest, a friend of Alice who steals the letter from Ronald to aid Patrick's case but then offers to give the letter to anyone who will sleep with her.
References
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bachelors, novel, this, article, does, cite, sources, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, bachelors, novel, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, 2020, learn, w. This article does not cite any sources Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources The Bachelors novel news newspapers books scholar JSTOR May 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Bachelors is a novel written in 1960 by the Scottish author Muriel Spark referred to by The New York Times as the most gifted and innovative British novelist It follows a group of British bachelors whose misogynistic world is shattered when they suddenly find themselves the target of blackmail and fraud The BachelorsFirst edition coverAuthorMuriel SparkCover artistVictor ReinganumCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglishPublisherMacmillanPublication date1960Media typePrint Hardback amp Paperback OCLC41211640Dewey Decimal823 914 21LC ClassPR6037 P29 B29 1999Story EditThe main characters the bachelors are a barrister a priest a detective a love seeking Irishman a handwriting expert and a mastermind of a spiritual medium In this story they arc from complete contentment sitting cozily about in their London clubs and shopping on Oxford Street to be troubled by various causes ranging from fraud to blackmail They all end up involved in a court case a criminal prosecution for forgery and fraud with the trial being the climax of the action In the centre of the story stands the main character the pale Patrick Seton the medium while the other bachelors are tormented by every cause epileptic fits forgeries malignant spiritualism and last but not least murder Principal characters EditPatrick Seton a spiritualist who is being prosecuted for fraudulent conversion by Freda Flower a past admirer whilst at the same time plotting the murder of his current girlfriend Alice Dawes who is pregnant and refuses to get rid of the baby Ronald Bridges a handwriting expert who suffers from epilepsy and is being called to examine a letter supposedly written by Freda asking Patrick to use the enclosed cheque for 2000 to further his psychic and spiritualistic work Freda claims she gave the cheque to Patrick to invest in bonds on her behalf Elsie Forrest a friend of Alice who steals the letter from Ronald to aid Patrick s case but then offers to give the letter to anyone who will sleep with her References Edit This article about a 1960s novel is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it See guidelines for writing about novels Further suggestions might be found on the article s talk page vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Bachelors novel amp oldid 1082827731, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
