Loitering with Intent - Softcover

Spark, Muriel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0811223035 ISBN 13: 9780811223034

Publisher: New Directions, 2014

Synopsis

Where does art start or reality end?

Happily loitering about London, c. 1949, with the intent of gathering material for her writing, Fleur Talbot finds a job “on the grubby edge of the literary world” at the very peculiar Autobiographical Association. Mad egomaniacs writing their memoirs in advance ― or poor fools ensnared by a blackmailer? When the association’s pompous director steals Fleur’s manuscript, fiction begins to appropriate life.

About this title

About the Author

Muriel Spark (1918–2006) was the author of dozens of novels, including The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Memento Mori, A Far Cry from Kensington, The Girls of Slender Means, The Ballad of Peckham Rye, The Driver’s Seat, and many more. She became Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993.

From AudioFile

Heroine Fleur Talbot loiters at what Spark calls the "grubby edges of the literary world," gathering material for her novel while working for the mysterious Autobiographical Association. Spark's involved plots, unhurried pace, and willingness to poke at the intricate eccentricities of human behavior are well served by Nadia May's reading. May easily manages the story's complex, numerous strands: Fleur's frequent discussion of the writing process, art's mirroring of life, and the book's many characters. It's a credit to May that we can keep track of the wealth of personality and detail Spark offers; May's throaty narration is particularly well suited to portrayals of the story's many elderly characters, especially the wonderfully eccentric Lady Edwina. J.C.G. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Edition details

• Publisher: New Directions
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0811223035
• ISBN 13: 9780811223034
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 224