In late 1950s London, something uncanny besets a group of elderly friends: an insinuating voice on the telephone reminds each: Remember you must die. Their geriatric feathers are soon thoroughly ruffled, and many an old unsavory secret is dusted off.

A brilliant and singularly gruesome achievement.

— Evelyn Waugh

This funny and macabre book has delighted me as much as any novel that I have read since the war.

— Graham Greene 

Acidly funny: a marvelously crafted, tautly written novel.

— Philadelphia Inquirer

Her best, I think, is Memento Mori, which is chillingly brilliant.

— Tennessee Williams

Spark’s greatest achievement.

— Harper’s

A jewel of a book.

— Newsday

There is a Waugh-like brilliance to Memento Mori, in the easy economical narrative, the continuous invention producing a series of surprises, the well-cut dialogue, the controlled tone. This last is the most remarkable of Miss Spark’s achievements. Nothing is forced, least of all the humor.

— V.S. Naipaul