OUR SPOONS CAME FROM WOOLWORTHS, by Barbara Comyns

Recently I've been reading a number of very mannered, and yet quite modern, British novels. Obviously, I come across these books using the best possible catalogue of slim, mannered novels: The New York Review of Books Classics. I adore this publisher. They aim to publish "lost classics," and yet if you read enough of their books, you'll see that they ha…