Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark

by James Bailey (author)

• Hardback
• 320 pages
• Featured in Hunt's April Newsletter

Muriel Spark was one of literature's great shapeshifters.

That mercurial quality is found in her strange, brilliant, cruel novels - with their plots featuring pensioners receiving telephone calls from Death, the devil going clubbing in Peckham and a fascist schoolmistress leading her coterie of girls astray - but it is also true of her as a person. As sly, nimble and elegant as Spark's own work, Like a Cat Loves a Bird is a thrilling new perspective on a remarkable life and career that spanned much of the twentieth century. From her childhood in Edinburgh to her final years in Tuscany - via South Africa, London, New York and Rome - it traces a light-footed journey around the world and through her strange and magnificent bibliography.

It tells an irresistible story of transformation, wit and fierce determination and makes a passionate case for this vital modern artist.

'This is a deeply stylish, astute and illuminating biography of a fascinating writer'- Francesca Wade

'Utterly charming. A book as elegant, sharp-witted and mischievous as its subject'- Clare Pollard

'You don't have to be a Muriel Spark fan to enjoy the sharp wit of Like a Cat Loves a Bird, a fascinating and nuanced exploration of the sacrifices some make to focus on their art'- Luke Turner