The Only Problem
- 3 Dec 2015
- 9781782117636
- £5.59
- 192 pp
In a few words
‘An extremely sophisticated account of the perils that surround our unsuspecting lives in the world today’ New York Times
Set in France, The Only Problem displays Europe’s influence on Spark’s satirical narrative and sparkling prose
Profound . . . Even odd throwaway lines have large resonance
Anthony Burgess
ObserverTold with the concision and sharp wit at which Muriel Spark excels. She is such a brilliant presenter of egoism . . . compelling
More about
the book
Set in Italy, The Takeover follows the rivalries and machinations playing out in the sprawling villas owned by the indestructible, glamorous American millionaire Maggie Radcliffe.
My admiration for Spark's contribution to world literature knows no bounds. She was peerless, sparkling, inventive and intelligent - the crème de la crème
Ian Rankin
Muriel Spark's novels linger in the mind as brilliant shards, decisive as a smashed glass is decisive
John Updike
New YorkerThe care with which she uses words is matched by a gloriously carefree attitude. It's all part of her sanity, her breezy authorial self-confidence; and because of this I think that reading a blast of her prose every morning is a far more restorative way to start a day than a shot of espresso
A wholly original presence in modern literature
Andrew Motion
Muriel Spark
View profileMuriel Spark, DBE, C.Litt., was born in Edinburgh in 1918 and educated in Scotland. A poet and novelist, she is most well known for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. She also wrote children’s books, radio plays, the comedy Doctors of Philosophy and biographies of nineteenth-century literary figures, including Mary Shelley and Emily Brontë. Muriel Spark has garnered international praise and many awards, including the David Cohen Prize for Literature, the Ingersoll T.S. Eliot Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Boccaccio Prize for European Literature, the Gold Pen Award, the first Enlightenment Award and the Italia Prize for dramatic radio. She died in 2006.
