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The Latest Breaking News from Muriel Spark

Best books about London: Tales that capture the essence of the world's best city

From the satirical to the sublime, these books are simply, quintessentially, London

Evening Standard

‘I’ve seen so many people go down rabbit holes’: Patricia Lockwood on losing touch with reality

The Priestdaddy author on quitting social media, Maga conspiracies and how her second novel grew out of a period of post-Covid mania

The Guardian - UK

Digested week: Climate warning provides more fuel for Brits to talk about weather

Heatwave and an invitation to name storms created record-breaking opportunities to indulge nation’s favourite pastime

The Guardian - UK

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
read the most diverse news in one place.

‘Odd things happened when she was around’: the unnerving vision of Muriel Spark

From blackmail to burglary, the events of Spark’s life often uncannily echoed those of her novels – no wonder the author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie believed she could predict the future

The Guardian - UK

Electric Spark by Frances Wilson review: Muriel is as intriguing as her novels

What is so fascinating about Muriel Spark? In the last decade before she died aged 88 in 2006, any interview with the Scottish author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie became an event. The excitement was firstly because she was an artist of the old school, famous not only…

Evening Standard

Electric Spark by Frances Wilson review – the mercurial Muriel Spark

The author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie could be as prickly and problematic as her famous heroine. This account sheds new light on her formative years

The Guardian - UK

Maggie Smith was the grandest of grandes dames – and a true cinematic superstar

Before she reached a new level of TV celebrity in the 21st century, Smith had a remarkable big-screen career, channelling her stage presence into the camera whether as Jean Brodie or her tragic, absurd ‘aunt’ persona

The Guardian - UK

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Dame Maggie Smith: Oscar-winning Harry Potter and Downton Abbey star dies, aged 89

Giant of stage and screen was one of Britain’s most successul stars

The Independent UK

The Abandoners by Begoña Gómez Urzaiz review – absent mothers

An idiosyncratic study of women who leave their children, from Doris Lessing and Muriel Spark to Joni Mitchell

The Guardian - UK

The Abandoners by Begoña Gómez Urzaiz review – why do some mothers desert their children?

A fascinating study of famous women who break the ultimate taboo is just as powerful in capturing the everyday guilt of mothers who quietly dream of freedom

The Guardian - UK

The Girls of Slender Means review – Muriel Spark’s postwar tale told with zingy wit

Expertly adapted novel about young women beginning adult life in the wake of the second world war is shadowed by trauma but full of life and merriment

The Guardian - UK

Mistletoe Malice by Kathleen Farrell review – a snarky stocking filler

This witty postwar classic about a terrible family Christmas raises a bitter cocktail to the festive season

The Guardian - UK

A Green Equinox by Elizabeth Mavor review – a transgressive classic rediscovered

This newly republished 1973 novel about a bookshop owner’s love life is funny, surprising and unpredictable

The Guardian - UK

Top 10 female spies in fiction

Women’s role in espionage, largely written by women, leans less on explosions and more on perception, nuance and explorations of sacrifice – though they still kick ass

The Guardian - UK

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The Guardian - UK

Streaming: Godland and the best priests in cinema

The slowly unravelling Lutheran pastor in Godland joins a colourful procession of men of the cloth on film, from all-singing, Oscar-winning Bing Crosby to Robert Mitchum’s psycho killer in Night of the Hunter

ABC News

Best books for readers short on time, as recommended by Jennifer Down, Johann Hari, Tony Birch and more

We asked acclaimed writers, critics and book lovers to recommend great reads for the time-poor among us. They came back with thrilling page-turners, beloved classics and a few gems you've probably never heard of.

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