u003cbu003e'It never really occurred to her that literary men, if they like women at all, do not want literary women but girls.'u003c/bu003e u003cpu003eThe May of Teck Club 'exists for the Pecuniary Convenience and Social Protection of Ladies of Slender Means below the age of Thirty Years'. Nevertheless, and though there is a war on, they find the time between elocution lessons to jostle one another over suitors (some more suitable than others) and a single Schiaparelli gown. But can a love of literature, fine clothes and amorous young men save these young ladies from the horrors of the real world?u003cbu003e u003cpu003e'Unsettling and exhilarating' William Boyd, u003ciu003eDaily Telegraph u003c/iu003e u003cpu003e'An enduring genius' u003ciu003eGuardian u003c/iu003eu003cbru003eu003c/bu003e