Muriel Spark Centenary Editions

MAY 2018

AUGUST 2018

JUNE AND JULY 2018

SEPTEMBER 2018

Not to Disturb

The Abbess of Crewe

The Only Problem

Reality and Dreams

PUBLICITY AND SALES ENQUIRIES

£9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 435 9

£9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 437 3

£9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 441 0

£9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 444 1

‘We are never out of touch, in a Spark novel, with the happiness of creation; the sudden wilful largesse of magic and wit, the cunning tautness of suspense’ – John Updike

‘Peerless, sparkling, inventive and intelligent – the crème de la crème’ – Ian Rankin

‘Disturbing and exhilarating’ – New York Times

‘A novel written at the top of her form and so unique’ – Gore Vidal

Publicity and Marketing Director Jan Rutherford Jan.ppw@janrutherford.co.uk

Export Manager Carol Crawford carolc@birlinn.co.uk

Sales Director Laura Poynton Laura@birlinn.co.uk

Rights represented by Fiona Brownlee Fiona@brownleedonald.com

Introduced by Dan Gunn

The Hothouse by the East River Introduced by Ian Rankin

£9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 436 6

‘Reading a blast of her prose every morning is a far more restorative way to start a day than a shot of espresso’ – Daily Telegraph

Introduced by Ali Smith

The Takeover

Introduced by Gabriel Josipovici £9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 438 0

‘A glittering, knowing novel about the decline of the west’ – Margaret Drabble

Introduced by Richard Holloway

Symposium

Introduced by Alexander McCall Smith £9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 443 4

‘Sinister elegance’ – Time Magazine

Introduced by Louise Welsh

£9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 445 8

‘Ambitious, rewardingly complex . . . exceptionally intelligent’ – Guardian

Introducer to be confirmed

Territorial Rights

Sales Liaison Manager Vikki Reilly VikkiR@birlinn.co.uk

£9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 446 5

Introduced by Kapka Kassabova

‘Effortlessly entertaining . . . a hilarious account of political and romantic intrigue in Venice’ – Edmund White, New York Times

Aiding and Abetting

The Finishing School

JULY

£9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 439 7

Introducer to be confirmed

‘A wholly original presence in modern literature’ – Andrew Motion

‘One of her funniest novels . . . Spark at her sharpest, her purest and her most merciful’ – Ali Smith

Loitering with Intent Introduced by Joseph Kanon

£9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 4403

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize (1981)

DISTRIBUTION Booksource 50 Cambuslang Road Glasgow, G32 8NB Tel: 0845 370 0067 Intl: +44 (0)141 643 3961 orders@booksource.net SCOTLAND Seol Ltd West Newington House 10 Newington Road Edinburgh, EH9 1QS Tel: +44 (0)131 668 4371 info@birlinn.co.uk

‘Positively glistens with intelligence . . . a delicious conundrum’ – New Statesman

ENGLAND and WALES Compass IPS GW Business Centre Great West House Great West Road Brentford, Middlesex TW8 9DF Tel: +44 (0)20 8326 5696 sales@compass-ips.london IRELAND Brookside Publishing Services 16 Priory Office Park Stillorgan Co. Dublin, A94 RH10 Ireland Tel: +353 (0)1 278 4225 office@brookside.ie

Supported by The Muriel Spark Society

#MurielSpark100

Muriel Spark.

One of the world’s great writers

All 22 of Muriel Spark’s novels, republished in glorious, hardback editions Along with Appointment in Arezzo: A Friendship with Muriel Spark

By Alan Taylor

Muriel Spark.

NOVEMBER 2017

The Comforters Introduced by Allan Massie

£9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 425 0

‘A brilliant first novel’ – New York Times

Appointment in Arezzo: A Friendship with Muriel Spark NOVEMBER 2017

‘Muriel Spark’s novels linger in the mind as brilliant shards, decisive as a smashed glass is decisive’ – New Yorker

Robinson

#MurielSpark100

The Muriel Spark novels Series editor Alan Taylor

£12.99 hbk / eBook and Audible audio book available ISBN 978 1 84697 375 8

In this warm, personal and often humorous account, Alan Taylor recalls his friendship with one of the world’s great writers.

Taylor first encountered Muriel Spark when he interviewed her in Arezzo near her home in northern Italy in 1990, and a long-lasting bond was formed. Spending family holidays in Spark’s home in Tuscany and accompanying her on trips abroad, he came to know her well and gained a unique insight into her character. Here he offers a colourful portrait of a vivacious and fiercely intelligent woman.

Alan Taylor is a critically acclaimed journalist and author. He lives in Glasgow.

Coverage for this title includes: ● BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week (January 2018) ● National press features and extracts

● All 22 novels written by Muriel Spark, republished in her centenary year, in handsome, collectable editions. ● Each book will be beautifully produced – the perfect gift for existing fans and an enticement to new readers to discover the genius and wit of Spark’s writing for the first time.

Introduced by Candia McWilliam £9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 426 7

‘Spark does marvellous work making her characters seem full and alive in a minimum of brush strokes’ – Fifty Books Project ‘Muriel Spark has written some of the best sentences in English’ – The New Yorker

Memento Mori

● Every volume includes a specially commissioned introduction from one of today’s leading writers.

Introduced by Zoë Strachan

● Authorised by the Spark estate, this series is the only complete collection of her novels.

‘Wonderfully funny throughout… an exhilarating and life-enhancing read’ – David Lodge

● The anniversary year will be marked by celebrations of Spark’s work across television, radio, theatre, events, print and social media, and will include BBC Radio 4 dramatisations and adaptations, a BBC TV documentary, a SKY TV documentary presented by Ian Rankin, a major exhibition of her archive at the National Library of Scotland, and high profile events at all leading UK festivals.

● TLS essay

£9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 427 4

‘At once a hilarious farce and one of English literature’s most moving portraits of old age’ – Sunday Telegraph

The Ballad of Peckham Rye

● Spark special edition of Scottish Review of Books

Introduced by Ronald Frame

● Extensive review coverage in national and local press

‘Witty and quite perfect in its construction, this light and mockfolkloric novel is the work of an inspired satirist.’ – Publishers Weekly

£9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 428 1

#MurielSpark100

‘Completely surprising, funny and cruel . . . unmatchable and unmissable’ – The Times

Muriel Spark’s life and achievements will be celebrated throughout 2018.

For further information see www.murielspark100.com (live from 26 October 2017) or follow Facebook: /murielspark100 and Twitter: @MurielSpark100

These novels are published with the support of Creative Scotland and The Muriel Spark Society.

JANUARY 2018

FEBRUARY 2018

A Far Cry from Kensington

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

£9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 442 7

£9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 430 4

‘Superb entertainment… her most delightful novel in years’ – Robert Plunket

‘A sublimely funny book . . . unforgettable and universal’ – Candia McWilliam

‘One of Muriel Spark’s most liberating, liberated and meditative novels. Spark is a writer who can take the meditative and make it mercurially funny, playful and mischievous’ – Ali Smith

Introduced by James Campbell

Introduced byWilliam Boyd

‘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

Introduced by James Wood

MARCH 2018

The Public Image Introduced by Lucy Ellmann

£9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 433 5

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize (1968)

The Bachelors

‘There is no question about the quality and distinctiveness of her writing, with its quirky concern with human nature, and its comedy’ – William Boyd

ISBN: £9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 429 8

The Driver’s Seat

‘I am dazzled by The Bachelors. It is the cleverest and most elegant of all Mrs Spark’s clever and elegant books’ – Evelyn Waugh MID FEBRUARY

The Girls of Slender Means Introduced by Rosemary Goring £9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 431 1

‘One of the best, and funniest, books about civilian life in the span of both of those (obviously) tragic, serious and extremely consequential wars (WWI and II)’ – Rivka Galchen, New York Times

The Mandelbaum Gate

Introduced by Gabriel Josipovici £9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 432 8

Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (1965)

‘A well-wrought and stimulating novel . . . hard to forget’ – Anthony Burgess

Introduced by Andrew O’Hagan £9.99 hbk, ISBN 978 1 84697 434 2

‘The Driver’s Seat is a scalpel, cutting away the excess of the traditional novel and leaving only the core. It is a stiletto, piercing straight to the heart – or thereabouts’ – John Self

‘Her spiny and treacherous masterpiece’ – The New Yorker