Description

‘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’ Spectator
‘Unputdownable’ Financial Times
‘Joyously, brilliantly intelligent. In Wilson, Spark has met her true match’ Anne Enright

From one of our leading biographers and critics comes an exhilarating, landmark new look at Muriel Spark.

The 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.

Electric Spark 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.

Publisher Review

A brilliant, wonderfully shrewd biography, expertly illuminating the most elusive and shape-shifting subject that is Muriel Spark — WILLIAM BOYD Treachery, lies, fantasy, God, everlastingly unsatisfactory sexual relationships . . . This miraculous narrative unravels the creative process of a brilliant novelist — A. N. WILSON A joyously, brilliantly intelligent work of biography. In Wilson, Spark has met her true match — ANNE ENRIGHT A pitch-perfect, electrifying symphony – reconfirming Wilson’s pre-eminence as Maestra of British literary biography — RACHEL HOLMES A fascinating new biography, which focuses on the writer’s early years in the 1940s and 1950s — Lucy Thynne * Telegraph, Best Books of 2025 * The biographer of D. H. Lawrence and Thomas De Quincey returns to decode the life of the enigmatic novelist and short story writer, focusing on her turbulent 20s and 30s * Guardian, The Books to Look Forward to in 2025 * Dame Muriel’s life was composed of weird accidents, strange coincidences and spooky events that influenced her writing. In this biography, Wilson sets out to solve the puzzle of “Muriel the Marvel with her X-ray eyes” * Financial Times, What to Read in 2025 * A writer’s writer who will no doubt inspire her own cult following — AMANDA FOREMAN The most original voice in life-writing today — LUCASTA MILLER