Recently there has been much discussion in the papers about the demise of the plot in modern novels. In its place, it is suggested, we are now given style, and a sort of clever knowingness. If there is any truth to this contention, then Muriel Spark's Reality and Dreams is as fashionable as novels come. There is precious little plot, but the novel nevertheless grips, pleases and enthrals.

This is the situation: Tom is a film director. He is making a film about a girl he once glimpsed serving hamburgers in a