{"product_id":"9780691290171","title":"Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e';A deeply stylish, astute, and illuminating portrait of a fascinating writer.'Francesca Wade, author of \u003ci\u003eGertrude Stein: An Afterlife\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA spiky and delicious new literary portrait of the great twentieth-century British author of beloved novels such as \u003ci\u003eThe Prime of Miss Jean Brodie\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Girls of Slender Means\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e';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.'from \u003ci\u003eLike a Cat Loves a Bird\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMuriel Spark (19182006) was one of literature's great shapeshifters. That mercurial quality is found in her strange, brilliant, cruel novelswith their plots featuring a cast of elderly characters receiving telephone calls from Death, the devil going clubbing in Peckham, and a fascist schoolmistress leading her coterie of girls astraybut it is also true of her as a person. As sly, nimble, and elegant as Spark's own work, \u003ci\u003eLike a Cat Loves a Bird\u003c\/i\u003e offers a thrilling new perspective on a remarkable life and career that spanned much of the twentieth century.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom Spark's childhood in Edinburgh to her final years in Tuscanyvia South Africa, London, New York, and RomeJames Bailey traces a light-footed journey around the world and through the novelist's strange and magnificent books. The result is an irresistible story of transformation, wit, and fierce determinationand a passionate case for this vital modern artist.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Princeton University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48960728891640,"sku":"00000_00000_00000_00000","price":58.65,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/kinokuniya.com.au\/products\/9780691290171","provider":"Books Kinokuniya Australia","version":"1.0","type":"link"}