In a few words
‘Wonderfully entertaining – full of absurd, comical, engaging characters and written with typical wit, elegance and aplomb’ Sunday Telegraph
Mercurially funny, playful and mischievous
Hard to believe but Miriam is just as good as, if not better than, Maggie
Sue Arnold On The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie
The GuardianMore about
the book
First published in 1988 and described by Ali Smith as ‘one of Muriel Spark’s most liberating, and meditative novels’ – A Far Cry from Kensington shows Muriel Spark at the mature height of her powers.
The narrator is one Mrs. Hawkins. She writes from Italy, a far cry from Kensington indeed, taking us back to her threadbare years in postwar London. As a young, rather fat war-widow she spent her days working for a crazy, almost bankrupt publisher; and her nights offering advice from her boarding-house in South Kensington. In both locations our heroine soon uncovered difficulties: shady literary dealings; anonymous letters, blackmail, and even suicide.
Whilst Mrs. Hawkins innocently, confidently put about setting things right, she could little imagine the ensuing mayhem and consequences. Now many decades older, thinner, and pleased with her situation in Italy, Mrs. Hawkins reflects on all those dark happenings, recounting how her own life changed forever.
Muriel Spark
View profileMuriel Spark, DBE, C.Litt., was born in Edinburgh in 1918 and educated in Scotland. A poet and novelist, she also wrote children’s books, radio plays, a comedy Doctors of Philosophy, (first performed in London in 1962 and published 1963) and biographies of nineteenth-century literary figures, including Mary Shelley and Emily Brontë.
For her long career of literary achievement, which began in 1951, Muriel Spark garnered international praise and many awards, which include the first Enlightenment Award and the Italia Prize for dramatic radio. She died in 2006.
