Description

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The fraying fringes of 1950s literary London

Rich and slim, the celebrated author Nancy Hawkins takes us in hand and leads us back to her threadbare years in postwar London, where she spends her days working for a mad, near-bankrupt publisher (“of very good books”) and her nights dispensing advice at her small South Kensington rooming house. Everywhere Mrs. Hawkins finds evil: with aplomb, however, she confidently sets about putting things to order, to terrible effect.

About the Author

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Muriel Spark (1918–2006) was the author of dozens of novels, including The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Memento Mori, A Far Cry from Kensington, The Girls of Slender Means, The Ballad of Peckham Rye, The Driver’s Seat, and many more. She became Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993.

Praise For…

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 This slip of a novel includes, among other things, anonymous threats, a fraudulent book publisher, the pseudoscience of radionics, the metaphysics of evil, a love story and an endorsement of cats. But Spark’s sly wit is what shimmers throughout. 
— Jennifer Szalai - The New York Times

 The divine Spark is shining at her brightest—pure delight. 
— Colm Tóibín

 Mercurially funny, playful and mischievous.
— Ali Smith - The Guardian

 Far Cry is, among other things, a comedy that holds a tragedy as an egg-cup holds an egg. 

— The Philadelphia Inquirer