{"product_id":"muriel-spark-9780753827499","title":"Muriel Spark","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe long-awaited biography of one of the great writers of the twentieth century - ''a wonderful blend of scholarly fact and juicy storytelling'' (\u003ci\u003eMail on Sunday\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMuriel Spark ended was one of the great writers of the twentieth century. Hers is a Cinderella story, the first thirty-nine years of which she presented in her autobiography, \u003ci\u003eCurriculum Vitae\u003c\/i\u003e (1992), politely blurring the intensity of her darker moments: her relations with her brother, mother, son, husband; a terrifying period of hallucinations and subsequent depression; and the disastrously misplaced love she had felt for two men she had wanted to marry, Howard Sergeant and Derek Stanford. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAged nineteen, Spark left Scotland to marry in Southern Rhodesia, escaping back to Britain on a troopship in 1944 after her divorce. Her son returned in 1945 to be brought up by her parents in Edinburgh while she established herself as a poet and critic in London. After becoming a Roman Catholic in 19\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGripping; a rich, complex, quagmire of a book, \u003ci\u003eMuriel Spark\u003c\/i\u003e is worth the wait, witty, readable and well researched - about as satisfying as a literary biography can be -- Frances Wilson * Daily Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eStannard's triumph is to have produced an account that survived her scrutiny yet reveals her vanity and egotism so unmistakably * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eA lively, engrossing and detailed tome * Sunday Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eStannard has got under Spark's skin about as deeply as anyone could -- Alastair Mabbott * Herald *\u003cbr\u003eSpark invited the author to write her biography. In his hands scholasticism and sauce prove a fascinating, compelling mix * Huddersfield Daily Examiner *\u003cbr\u003eStannard had unfettered access to Spark's archives and proves an adept biographer of the sparky and troubled author * The Times *\u003cbr\u003eStannard is particularly strong on Spark as a novelist and on the intrigues of the American and British and publishing worlds * Irish Times *\u003cbr\u003eAn exhaustive and fascinating story * Evening Standard *\u003cbr\u003eThis fine life explains why Muriel Spark numbers among the crème de la crème of modern novelists ... [With its] many fine vignettes ... this is a biography that has been worth the long wait * Sunday Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eMartin Stannard's biography will become the standard work on one of Britain's finest postwar writers * Observer *\u003cbr\u003ePrecise and perceptive ... a pioneering biography * The Times *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Orion Publishing Co","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48737067237719,"sku":"9780753827499","price":13.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780753827499.jpg?v=1723810952","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/muriel-spark-9780753827499","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}