{"product_id":"the-letters-of-muriel-spark-volume-1","title":"The Letters of Muriel Spark (Volume 1)","description":"Condition: BRAND NEW\u003cbr\u003eISBN: 9780349014340\u003cbr\u003eYear: 2025\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Little Brown\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDescription:\u003cbr\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\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e*One of the \u003ci\u003eTLS\u003c\/i\u003e Books of the Year 2025*\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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.\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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.\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003ePRAISE FOR VOLUME 1: \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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'\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eALAN TAYLOR, author of\u003ci\u003e Appointment in Arezzo: A Friendship with Muriel Spark\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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--","brand":"ALLIANCE DIST - SF","offers":[{"title":"Default","offer_id":41858660597893,"sku":"PR431447","price":118.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0562\/0213\/3637\/files\/image_TTG1D1OI0UX3.jpg?v=1789090016","url":"https:\/\/smartfoxbooks.co.nz\/products\/the-letters-of-muriel-spark-volume-1","provider":"Smartfox Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}