A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR: THE TIMES/SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, TELEGRAPH, TLS, FINANCIAL TIMES, ECONOMIST, NEW STATESMAN, LONDON STANDARD AND WASHINGTON POST 'Absolutely mesmerising. I was possessed by this book in the same way that I suspect its author was possessed by Spark. It still hasn’t put me down' Spectator 'Unputdownable' Financial Times 'Joyously, brilliantly intelligent. In Wilson, Spark has met her true match' Anne Enright From one of our leading biographers and critics comes an exhilarating, landmark new look at Muriel Spark. The word most commonly used to describe Muriel Spark is ‘puzzling’. 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’. Following the clues, riddles, and instructions Spark planted for