Got this while visiting my sister in the US this summer, I think from her library's sale shelves. I was amused to note that it cost more (in USD) than the 60 p UK price tag, though not by much.

Have read the first eponymous story, and found it sort of creepily fascinating, certainly very well written. Will update when I've finished it.

[Reserved for Cordelia-anne]

Completed this today - fascinating little book of short stories, begun last year.
Very interestingly written, often dark. Contrary to what you’d think from the very British title, most stories are linked to Africa, except for the last, which is set in Italy. I wonder if the author lived in Africa? She must have. This is my first book of hers. I’m kind of in awe of her thought processes and will probably keep an eye out for more of her work.

As noted above, this is reserved for Cordelia-anne, though it will have to wait till Nepal's lockdown lifts.

Posted exactly a week ago, Tuesday Jan 17, but forgot to make release notes. This is the first book I've mailed out since the Kathmandu GPO began accepting outgoing international mail again. Safe travels, little book!

Hallelujah! The lockdown is over in Nepal. Thanks lils74 for mailing this from Katmandu. I have been wanting to read Muriel Spark for a while. Your recommendation is perhaps just the inspiration I need to finally jump whatever barriers that have prevented me from following up. I am enjoying your blog!

Creepy, lils74's word, is correct but I prefer another description. Each story, it seemed to me, was a gothic gem. I know the term "master storyteller" is a cliche but here Spark is. I enjoyed her combination of biting wit, keen observation and surprise in each story. After reading this, I will probably order the "Collected Stories" that this little book advertises. Spark reminds me a bit of our Georgia writer Flannery O'Connor. The material covered has similar themes. The American South is also a creature of Colonial Britain, featured in three of the stories in this collection. But here characters transplanted from the current UK and North Eastern Europe 400 years ago interact with African descendants transplanted here about the same time. Our relationship is more established than that of British Colonials in Africa last century. We know each other better and share customs and food. It seemed often that Africa was merely a back drop for the action of these stories, the African people merely sketched devoid of humanity. That's not to blame Spark. She is primarily concerned with her transplanted characters. This separation from the "natives" is characteristic of these people. Pridefulness and the emotional distance of the white characters from black characters emerge as supporting themes as in O'Connor, whose work is often classified as part of the "Southern Gothic" genre. I was amazed that Spark so easily incorporated the supernatural into two of her tales. This was particularly stunning in "The Portobello Road" and tragically hilarious in "The Seraph and the Zambezi," the tale of an African Christmas masque. I will look carefully for a next reader for this amazing book. It was quite a good choice for breaking through the past three years of shut down. May these haunt us no more!