{"product_id":"electric-spark-the-enigma-of-dame-muriel-hardcover","title":"Electric Spark: The Enigma of Dame Muriel - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eFrances Wilson\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLong-listed for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe award-winning biographer Frances Wilson presents an exhilarating new look at Muriel Spark, a consummate artist of the twentieth century.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Is the story fact? Is it fiction? It is what it is,\" said Muriel Spark. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMuriel 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.\" By following the clues, riddles, and instructions Spark planted for posterity in her biographies, fiction, autobiography, and archives, Frances Wilson aims to crack her code. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eElectric Spark\u003c\/i\u003e explores not the celebrated Dame Muriel but the apprentice mage discovering her powers. It takes us through her early years, when turmoil reigned: divorce, madness, murder, espionage, poverty, skullduggery, blackmail, love affairs, revenge, and a major religious conversion. If this sounds like a novel by Spark, it is because her experiences in the 1940s and 1950s became, alchemically distilled, the material of her art. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"As good a critic as she is a biographer [and] as sharp a stylist as she is a reader\" (\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e), in \u003ci\u003eElectric Spark\u003c\/i\u003e Frances Wilson brings her enormous, incandescent powers to bear on one of the most formidable writers of the twentieth century.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrances Wilson\u003c\/b\u003e is a critic, a journalist, and the author of six works of nonfiction, including \u003ci\u003eHow to Survive the Titanic: or, The Sinking of J. Bruce Ismay\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography; \u003ci\u003eGuilty Thing: A Life of Thomas De Quincey\u003c\/i\u003e, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was long-listed for the Baillie Gifford Prize; and \u003ci\u003eBurning Man: The Trials of D. H. Lawrence\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the Plutarch Award, was short-listed for the Duff Cooper Prize and the James Tait Black Award, and was long-listed for the Baillie Gifford Prize.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 432\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.35 x 9.19 x 6.35 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 23, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51987458425133,"sku":"9780374613204","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0938\/3185\/6429\/files\/VjVq6XX1bS9780374613204.webp?v=1776178826","url":"https:\/\/ishookbooks.com\/products\/electric-spark-the-enigma-of-dame-muriel-hardcover","provider":"iShook Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}