The Girls of Slender Means

<b>'It never really occurred to her that literary men, if they like women at all, do not want literary women but girls.'</b> <p>The May of Teck Club 'exists for the Pecuniary Convenience and Social Protection of Ladies of Slender Means below the age of Thirty Years'. Nevertheless, and though there is a war on, they find the time between elocution lessons to jostle one another over suitors (some more suitable than others) and a single Schiaparelli gown. But can a love of literature, fine clothes and amorous young men save these young ladies from the horrors of the real world?<b> <p>'Unsettling and exhilarating' William Boyd, <i>Daily Telegraph </i> <p>'An enduring genius' <i>Guardian </i><br></b>