{"product_id":"electric-spark","title":"Electric Spark","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eTimes\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTelegraph\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eObserver\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eTablet\u003c\/i\u003e Book of the Summer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Absolutely mesmerising. I was possessed by this book in the same way that I suspect its author was possessed by Spark. It still hasn’t put me down''\u003cb\u003e \u003ci\u003eSPECTATOR\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Unputdownable''\u003cb\u003e \u003ci\u003eFINANCIAL TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Joyously, brilliantly intelligent. In Wilson, Spark has met her true match'' \u003cb\u003eANNE ENRIGHT\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom one of our leading biographers and critics comes an exhilarating, landmark new look at Muriel Spark.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe word most commonly used to describe Muriel Spark is ‘puzzling’. Spark was a puzzle, and so too are her books. She dealt in word games, tricks, and ciphers; her life was composed of weird accidents, strange coincidences and spooky events. Evelyn Waugh thought she was a saint, Bernard Levin said she was a witch, and she described herself as ‘Muriel the Marvel with her X-ray eyes’. Following the clues, riddles, and instructions Spark planted for posterity in her biographies, fiction, autobiography and archives, Frances Wilson aims to crack her code.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eElectric Spark\u003c\/i\u003e explores not the celebrated Dame Muriel but the apprentice mage discovering her powers. We return to her early years when everything was piled on: divorce, madness, murder, espionage, poverty, skulduggery, blackmail, love affairs, revenge, and a major religious conversion. If this sounds like a novel by Muriel Spark it is because the experiences of the 1940s and 1950s became, alchemically reduced, the material of her art.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e*A 2025 HIGHLIGHT FOR: \u003ci\u003eTelegraph, Financial Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eGuardian, \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eObserver \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eScotsman\u003c\/i\u003e*\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''A brilliant, wonderfully shrewd biography'' WILLIAM BOYD\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Pitch-perfect, electrifying. Reconfirms Wilson''s pre-eminence as Maestra of British biography''\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eRACHEL HOLMES\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57395650363774,"sku":"NW9781526663030","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9781526663030.jpg?v=1779661047","url":"https:\/\/mediaplace.com\/en-usa\/products\/electric-spark","provider":"MediaPlace","version":"1.0","type":"link"}