Helen Muir is becoming known as one of England's finest contemporary writers. Her style is somewhat reminiscent of both Evelyn Waugh's and Beryl Bainbridge's (both of whom she greatly admires), but she has a certain directness of dialogue which sets her apart. A voracious reader of any sort of religious philosophy, she lists religion as her "absolute interest" and is concerned about the present moral state of society. However, she transmits these concerns to the reader without making her message too blatant, and her novels are amusing, zany fun with undertones of the tragic. Commenting on the state of fiction in the summer 1978 issue of the New Review, she said, "Good writing and good ideas are not enough. Individuality, eccentricity, certainties, are surely what novels are about...." Muir's novels have these characteristics.

Born to Mr. and Mrs. J.G. Muir of West Kirby, Wirral, Cheshire, Jean Helen Muir...