Book-of-the-Month Club News - November 1958 - December Selection

Sep 29, 2026

Uploaded by Bulrr

Book-of-the-Month Club News from November 1958 introduces the December selection, a new English novelist, Mary McMinnies, featuring her second book The Visitors. The text highlights the novel’s diplomatic setting behind the Iron Curtain, its satirical humor and balanced craftsmanship, and summarizes its cast and character types. It also includes press-style commentary praising the book’s talent, construction, and memorable impact, followed by a biographical sketch of the author’s education, travels, and writing background.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages30

Reading Time46 min

AccessFree to download

December Selection

The Visitors by Mary McMinnies

Some British Comments

Mary McMinnies - Author Background

-527 Book-of-the-Month Club News ·November 1958 For December Introducing a brilliant new English novelist DECEMBER SELECTIONTHEVisitorsBY Mary McMinnies动8Harcourt,Braceand Company JOHN MASON BROWN·BASIL DAVENPORTCLIFTON FADIMAN GILBERT HIGHET·JOHN P.MARQUAND Club Selections represent the unanimous choice of this Editorial Board A novel about“a daft and charming young lady”of the diplomatic set in an Iron Curtain country—a modern Madame Bovary lightened by "fantastichumor and elegantly sophisticated satire” REPORT BY Gilbert Highet ○ NCE AGAIN the Club has the pleasure of introducing its members toa brilliant new novelist.Mary McMinnies has already published onenovel.Called The Flying Fox,it was highly praised by those critics who read itwith attention.A brief and wry comedy about intrigue in Malaya,it markedher at once as a writer of unusual promise.Now,with her second book,she hasmore than fulilled that promise.Mary McMinnies is a highly gifted artist,and furthermore—it is pleasant to observe this in an age when sloppy writingis so common—she is a careful,conscientious craftswoman.Every page ofThe Visitors,even the most outrageously funny,even the most dramaticallyexciting,shows the mark of cool and balanced thought,of delicate and sensitivechoice exercised both on substance and on form. "The visitors"are a group of British and American diplomats stationedbehind the Iron Curtain.(Mrs.McMinnies calls the country"Slavonia,"itscapital "Slavnik,"and the provincial city which is her chief scene“Grusnov,”but they are obviously Poland,Warsaw and Cracow.)In any land throughout murder.Millicent gets too little affection from her husband,turns passionatelyto another man,and is taken over,much to her own surprise,by someone quitedifferent,the most unexpected but effective lover who ever quoted good poetryin a provincial accent.There is a princess who speaks beautiful idiomatic Frenchand horrible cockney English;a countess who talks like something from ateen-agers'school romance;a doggedly “progressive”British couple who keependeavoring to find themselves,without success;and sundry background figures—"Iords,heralds,officers,soldiers,attendants and gaolers,"as the playbills putit—who are all clearly and brightly characterized by a skillful psychologistand a suavely ironical stylist. # SOME BRITISH COMMENTS C℃ A new and exhilarating talent....It would be goodto light bonfires and blow trumpets in honor of TheVisitors,but there is no need to,really;there's excite-ment enough in reading it." John Metcalf,SUNDAY TIMES ℃ Builds up her picture with terrifying skill.” —Pefer Green,DAILY TELEGRAPH ℃ Must rank by any standards as a memorable achievement.A massive and in many ways remarkable book.” —John Connell,EVENiNG NEWS ℃ An important book,very well constructed.” 一NEWS CHRONICLE Mary McMinnies 入ARY McMINNIES is one of those Englishwriters-a respectable company一who havespent much of their time abroad.She saw Englandfirst at the age of 8,when,like most children ofBritons resident in India,she was sent to beeducated there;and since the age of 16,she hasonly at irregular intervals been able to return to itagain.Four years,term time and holidays alike,were spent at a Buckinghamshire school.Like somany potential novelists,she found mathematicsincomprehensible and games intolerable,takingrefuge from the latter,she recalls,in a ditchbordering the playing fields with a book claspedto her stomach by the band of her bloomers.Then followed four years at a Quaker co-educa-tional school staffed by cranks,of whom thecrankiest,her German master,distilled his par-ticular message for her into the phrase,bawledwhenever he saw her at whatever distance:"Beganz objectiv,child,GANZOBJECTIV!”Thoughquite unaware of what he meant then,Mrs.McMinnies feels that she and her work havebenefited from his exhortation since. At 16 she went to Munich to perfect her Ger-man and left after a year with the agreeablesensation of

FAQs

What is the December selection introduced in the document?

The December selection is The Visitors by Mary McMinnies, presented as her second book.

What kind of setting does The Visitors use?

The novel centers on British and American diplomats stationed behind the Iron Curtain, with a satirical tone and character-driven plot elements.

What does the document say about Mary McMinnies as a writer?

It emphasizes her careful, conscientious craft and balanced thought, noting that even the most humorous or exciting pages reflect deliberate choice in both substance and form.

Sep 29, 2026

Uploaded by Bulrr