The Comforters (Virago Modern Classics) - Softcover

Spark, Muriel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1844085538 ISBN 13: 9781844085538

Publisher: Virago, 2009

Synopsis

'The greatest Scottish novelist of modern times.' Ian Rankin

In this first novel by Muriel Spark - author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - the only things that aren't ambiguous are Spark's matchless originality and glittering wit.

With an introduction by Ali Smith.

Caroline Rose is plagued by the tapping of typewriter keys and the strange, detached narration of her every thought and action. She has an unusual problem - she realises she is in a novel. Her fellow characters are also possibly deluded: Laurence, her former lover, finds diamonds in a loaf of bread - could his elderly grandmother really be a smuggler? And Baron Stock, her bookseller friend, believes he is on the trail of England's leading Satanist.

'A master of malice and mayhem.' Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

'Brilliantly original and fascinating.' Evelyn Waugh

'A light, clever, mirthful tour de force ... It disrupts and charms its readers with its combination of wit, precision, intelligence and hilarity. As vibrant as ever, more than fifty years after its first appearance.' Ali Smith

About this title

Review:

That this light, clever, mirthful tour de force was a first novel is astounding. It ends with its own genesis, neatly, like a good joke. As vibrant as ever, more than 50 years after its first appearance, it still knocks the stuffing out of the realist tradition, and probably always will (Ali Smith)

Brilliantly original and fascinating (Evelyn Waugh)

A master of malice and mayhem (Michiko Katutani, NEW YORK TIMES)

Book Description:

Muriel Spark's stunning debut novel

About this edition

• Publisher: Virago
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1844085538
• ISBN 13: 9781844085538
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208