Brodie - but not as you know her ...

Gillian Shirreffs has published a novel with Jean Brodie at its heart. A 30-year journey of love, loss, and the perils of being an object in a human world. Brodie is the irresistible story of six women whose lives intertwine over three decades, told by Brodie, the beloved object that connects them all. On a spring day in 1988, Sandra Galbraith runs her long, curious fingers over a bookshelf tightly packed with the titles of her favourite writer, Muriel Spark. She’s on a quest to find the perfect birthday gift for her niece, Violet, and plucks Brodie, a pristine, new copy of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, from a neat cluster of identikit books. Brodie adores Violet and, over the next two years, hidden in plain sight, learns family secrets of betrayal and a double life. When Violet leaves for university, her brother kidnaps Brodie to give to his disinterested love interest. On the thirty-year journey that follows, Brodie passes through hands and lives and is witness to death, sex, and a wicked stepmother. The novel is published by Into Books £10.99.