Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark
James Bailey
Apr 2026 · Sceptre · Narrated by Harley Viveash
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8 hr 41 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook
"Remarkably shrewd and surprisingly amusing"
WILLIAM BOYD, Guardian
"A winning blend of detail and readability"
IAN RANKIN, Guardian
"This is a deeply stylish, astute and illuminating biography of a fascinating writer"
FRANCESCA WADE, author of Square Haunting
"Like a Spark novel, the moment my eyes met the page I knew I wouldn't be able to stop reading . . . A magnificent piece of work"
ROBIN INCE
"She was, if you believe what you read in the papers: a genius, a survivor, a bad mother, a fickle friend, a closeted lesbian, a tyrant, a loner, an eccentric, a recluse, a gossip, and an arch-manipulator. She would politely encourage you not to believe what you read in the papers."
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.
"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, author of Out of the Woods
"Vital, fun and immediate . . . full of engaging and astute literary analysis of Spark's work as well as scintillating, vivid biography"
FRANCESCA REECE, author of Glass Houses
"Utterly charming. A book as elegant, sharp-witted and mischievous as its subject"
CLARE POLLARD, author of Delphi
WILLIAM BOYD, Guardian
"A winning blend of detail and readability"
IAN RANKIN, Guardian
"This is a deeply stylish, astute and illuminating biography of a fascinating writer"
FRANCESCA WADE, author of Square Haunting
"Like a Spark novel, the moment my eyes met the page I knew I wouldn't be able to stop reading . . . A magnificent piece of work"
ROBIN INCE
"She was, if you believe what you read in the papers: a genius, a survivor, a bad mother, a fickle friend, a closeted lesbian, a tyrant, a loner, an eccentric, a recluse, a gossip, and an arch-manipulator. She would politely encourage you not to believe what you read in the papers."
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.
"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, author of Out of the Woods
"Vital, fun and immediate . . . full of engaging and astute literary analysis of Spark's work as well as scintillating, vivid biography"
FRANCESCA REECE, author of Glass Houses
"Utterly charming. A book as elegant, sharp-witted and mischievous as its subject"
CLARE POLLARD, author of Delphi
"Remarkably shrewd and surprisingly amusing"
WILLIAM BOYD, Guardian
"A winning blend of detail and readability"
IAN RANKIN, Guardian
"This is a deeply stylish, astute and illuminating biography of a fascinating writer"
FRANCESCA WADE, author of Square Haunting
"Like a Spark novel, the moment m...
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About the author
James Bailey is a writer and researcher from Manchester. He is a Doctor of Literature, and the author of Muriel Spark's Early Fiction (2021) and the co-editor of British Women Short Story Writers (2015). His day job involves working to support the development of other writers, as well as publishers, bookshops and literature festivals.
James Bailey is a writer and researcher from Manchester. He is a Doctor of Literature, and the author of Muriel Spark's Early Fiction (2021) and the co-editor of British Women Short Story Writers (2015). His day job involves working to support the development of other writers, as well as publishe...
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