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Advance Praise ""In [Electric Spark], Frances Wilson revels in her sublimely contrary subject . . . Wilson borrows Spark's own mystical whimsy about the relationship between her life and her work."" --Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic ""Biography, then--which Frances Wilson attempts in this beautifully written book--is the closest readers can get to Spark . . . 'Sparkian' has not entered common parlance but, by the time you finish this brilliant book, you think it probably should."" --The Economist ""Excellent . . . [Electric Spark offers] an enlightening account of [Spark's] formative experiences . . . Wilson presents the whole case file with skill, leaving it to the reader to decide what they make of such an enigmatic character. The biography is also a welcome reminder to return to a gloriously talented novelist."" --Martin Chilton, The Independent ""So original and engaging . . . The result of this blend of existing sources and fresh archival finds is an unputdownable and 'electric' perspective on the extraordinary talent and life that together forged Spark's fiction . . . A fabulous achievement, in more than one sense."" --Isabel Berwick, Financial Times ""[Wilson's] books are intense, eclectic and wildly diversionary, her intelligence rising from their pages like steam--and in Spark, the cleverest and the weirdest of them all, she may have found her ultimate subject."" --Rachel Cooke, The Observer ""A canny biography of the early career of this strange, brilliant novelist."" --Olivia Laing, The Guardian ""A joyously, brilliantly intelligent work of biography. In Wilson, Spark has met her true match."" --Anne Enright, author of The Wren, the Wren ""A brilliant, wonderfully shrewd biography that expertly illuminates the most elusive and shape-shifting subject that is Muriel Spark."" --William Boyd, author of Gabriel's Moon ""Treachery, lies, fantasy, God, everlastingly unsatisfactory sexual relationships. This miraculous narrative unravels the creative process of a brilliant novelist."" --A. N. Wilson, author of Goethe: His Faustian Life ""The matchless Muriel Spark has struck upon the perfect literary biographer in Frances Wilson. In prose as sparkling as her subject, Wilson orchestrates the complex movements of Spark's life and writing into a pitch-perfect, electrifying symphony--reconfirming Wilson's preeminence as maestra of British literary biography."" --Rachel Holmes, author of Sylvia Pankhurst: Natural Born Rebel

Advance Praise ""A brilliant, wonderfully shrewd biography, expertly illuminating the most elusive and shape-shifting subject that is Muriel Spark."" --William Boyd, author of The Romantic ""The matchless Muriel Spark has struck upon the perfect literary biographer in Frances Wilson. I suspect Frances Wilson of necromancy--possessed of a sixth sense to read between the lines of mysterious Muriel's life and writing to unearth the unconscious, instinctual and intellectual impulses of her subject's complex creative mind. Electric Spark is simultaneously an enthralling literary biography of the most beguiling literary biographer and a forensic investigation of the story inside the story of Spark's doubled vision and downright spooky life. In prose as sparkling as her subject, Wilson orchestrates the complex movements of Spark's life and writing into a pitch-perfect, electrifying symphony--reconfirming Wilson's pre-eminence as Maestra of British literary biography."" --Rachel Holmes, author of Sylvia Pankhurst: Natural Born Rebel

Author Information

Frances Wilson is a critic, a journalist, and the author of six works of nonfiction, including How to Survive the Titanic: or, The Sinking of J. Bruce Ismay, which won the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography; Guilty Thing: A Life of Thomas De Quincey, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was long-listed for the Baillie Gifford Prize; and Burning Man: The Trials of D. H. Lawrence, which won the Plutarch Award, was short-listed for the Duff Cooper Prize and the James Tait Black Award, and was long-listed for the Baillie Gifford Prize.

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