{"product_id":"muriel-spark-the-letters-of-muriel-spark-volume-1-2025","title":"Muriel Spark: The Letters of Muriel Spark (Volume 1) [2025]","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe first of two volumes of the letters of Muriel Spark, one of the greatest and most fascinating writers of the twentieth century.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e*One of the \u003ci\u003eTLS\u003c\/i\u003e Books of the Year 2025*\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003eIn 1944, on her return to England after a disastrous marriage, Muriel Spark was unknown as a writer except to a handful of close friends; by 1963 she was the internationally renowned author of seven critically acclaimed, bestselling novels.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHer letters - witty, affectionate, sharp, mercurial - reveal the turbulence of her early career in postwar London: her struggles to earn a living as a writer, her difficult love affairs, a terrifying breakdown, and her conversion to Catholicism. They also trace her development from little-known poet to celebrated novelist, with glittering insights into the emergence of her unique literary voice, as well as her relationships with friends, lovers, writers and publishers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSelected from her extensive correspondence and insightfully edited and annotated, this is an essential read for anyone interested in Spark's work and world.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePRAISE FOR VOLUME 1: \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'[An] immaculately-edited collection . . . Feisty, fun-filled, witty and, of course, sparky, the letters are a window into a remarkable life that was lived in devotion to literature'\u003cbr\u003eALAN TAYLOR, author of\u003ci\u003e Appointment in Arezzo: A Friendship with Muriel Spark\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'What an extraordinary life of adventure the young Muriel Spark led. These funny and fraught early letters capture her triumphs and disasters vast and small, not to mention the curious predicaments--personal, artistic, familial--to which she seemed fated. A marvelous book'\u003cbr\u003eJOSEPH O'NEILL\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'\u003ci\u003eLetters\u003c\/i\u003e is a marvel. Taking in faith, love, fame and feuds, Spark's letters reveal her life to be every bit as compelling as the novels she wrote' JAMES BAILEY, author of \u003ci\u003eLike a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e'\u003c\/i\u003eMeticulously edited . . . The letters invited an investigation into both the life and the work' RACHEL CUSK, \u003ci\u003eNEW YORKER\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Fascinating . . . edited with exemplary attention to detail by Dan Gunn. There are delightful touches throughout' \u003ci\u003eSPECTATOR\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e'The book I wanted not to end was \u003c\/i\u003eThe Letters of Muriel Spark (Virago), superbly edited by Dan Gunn, spanning 1944 to 1963. She was fun, she was charming, and if you weren't careful - sometimes even if you were - she was vengeful'\u003cbr\u003eJAMES CAMPBELL, \u003ci\u003eTLS\u003c\/i\u003e Books of the Year 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Wonderful . . . An eye-opening reflection of her daily life and an important contribution to her literature' \u003ci\u003eSCOTTISH SUNDAY POST\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A must-read' \u003ci\u003eSTANDARD\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Gunn faced a formidable task in distilling into two volumes a body of about 3,500 letters and capturing the nature and force of Spark's personality. . . he has risen to the challenge impressively' CLAIRE HARMAN, \u003ci\u003eLITEARY REVIEW\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Spark's selected letters [exhibit] the glorious range of Muriel's intellect, anxieties, love and rage, her sense of frailty as well as of strength. For these are often spectacularly good, funny, painful statements, which Gunn has edited brilliantly' MARTIN STANNARD, \u003ci\u003eTHE OLDIE\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs Gunn's meticulously edited first volume of Muriel Spark's letters shows, so much happened to her it is no surprise she found material for a lifetime's fiction . . . A spellbinding portrait of the writer as a relatively young woman' ROSEMARY GORING, \u003ci\u003eHERALD\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Spark, Muriel \u0026 Gunn, Dan","offers":[{"title":"Like New","offer_id":52984239882579,"sku":"XE80349014340","price":39.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"New","offer_id":52901601476947,"sku":"9780349014340","price":50.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0616\/4001\/6057\/files\/spark-muriel-gunn-dan-muriel-spark-the-letters-of-muriel-spark-volume-1-2025-9780349014340-1218819796.jpg?v=1770657487","url":"https:\/\/chaptersbookstore.com\/products\/muriel-spark-the-letters-of-muriel-spark-volume-1-2025","provider":"Chapters Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}