2010/23: The Girls of Slender Means -- Muriel Spark

The Girls of Slender Means -- Muriel Spark

The weeks had passed, and since in the May of Teck Club they were weeks of youth in the ethos of war, they were capable of accommodating quick happenings and reversals, rapid formations of intimate friendships, and a range of lost and discovered loves that in later years and in peace would take years to happen, grow and fade. The May of Teck girls were nothing if not economical. Nicholas, who was past his youth, was shocked at heart by their week-by-week emotions. (p. 95)

( non-spoilery review )