by Muriel Spark
First published 1998
When a mysterious stranger arrives at a remote country estate, the eccentric residents are thrown into disarray. Muriel Spark's "The Only Problem" is a biting social satire that skewers the pretensions of the upper class. As the interloper sows chaos, long-buried secrets and resentments bubble to the surface. Spark's sharp wit and piercing insights expose the hollowness at the heart of this insular community, leading to a climactic reckoning that is by turns hilarious and unsettling. At its core, this is a story about the human capacity for self-delusion, and the fleeting nature of certainty.
Genres: fiction, satire, literary-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: France
179 pages · Hardcover · Putnam