Memento Mori: A Virago Modern Classic

Author: Muriel Spark

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $25.00 NZD
  • : 9780349010342
  • : Little, Brown Book Group Limited
  • : Sphere
  • :
  • : May 2018
  • :
  • : 24.99
  • : March 2018
  • :
  • :
  • : books

Special Fields

  • :
  • :
  • : Muriel Spark
  • : Virago Modern Classics Ser.
  • : Paperback
  • :
  • :
  • : English
  • : 823/.914
  • :
  • : 240
  • : FA
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
Barcode 9780349010342
9780349010342

Description

Unforgettably astounding and a joy to read, Memento Mori is considered by many to be the greatest novel by the wizardly Dame Muriel Spark.


In late 1950s London, a group of aging eccentrics is brought together by a series of uncanny events. Lettie Colston is the first to receive an anonymous phone call from an insinuating voice reminding her that she must die. Soon, ten of Lettie's friends also receive the call. In the flurry that results from these seemingly supernatural messages, a bizarre investigation is launched that reveals a network of deception binding the group, including such dark secrets as blackmail and adultery.


As spooky as it is witty, poignant, and wickedly hilarious, Memento Mori may ostensibly concern death, but it is a book which leaves one relishing life all the more.

Reviews

A brilliant and singularly gruesome achchievement * Evelyn Waugh * This funny and macabre book has delighted me as much as any novel that I have read since the war * Graham Greene * I am reading a trio of novels by Muriel Spark, a marvelously witty English writer, one of the few lady writers I like to read. Her best, I think, is Memento Mori, which is chillingly brilliant * Tennessee Williams * There is a Waugh-like brilliance to this novel, in the easy economical narrative, the continuous invention producing a series of surprises, the well-cut dialogue, the controlled tone. This last is the most remarkable of Miss Spark's achievements. Nothing is forced, least of all the humour * V. S. Naipaul, NEW STATESMAN * Spark is a writer who can take the meditative and make it mercurially funny, playful and mischievious -- Ali Smith The greatest Scottish novelist of modern times . . . My admiration for Spark's contribution to world literature knows no bounds. She was peerless, sparkling, inventive and intelligent - the creme de la creme -- Ian Rankin I am reading a trio of novels by Muriel Spark, a marvellously witty English writer . . . Her best, I think, is Memento Mori, which is chillingly brilliant -- Tennessee Williams There is a Waugh-like brilliance to this novel, in the easy economical narrative, the continuous invention producing a series of surprises, the well-cut dialogue, the controlled tone . . . the most remarkable of Miss Spark's achievements. Nothing is forced, least of all the humour -- V. S. Naipaul

Author description

Muriel Spark, D.B.E, C. Litt, was born in Edinburgh in 1918. A poet and novelist, she also wrote children's books, radio plays, a comedy, 'Doctors of Philosophy', first performed in London in 1962, and biographies. She is best known for her stories and many successful novels, including Memento Mori, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Loitering With Intent, The Comforters, A Far Cry from Kensington and The Public Image. For her long career of literary achievement, Muriel Spark won international praise and many awards, including the David Cohen British Literature Award, the T. S. Eliot Award, the Saltire Prize, the Boccaccio Prize for European Literature, the Gold Pen Award and the Italia Prize for dramatic radio. Muriel Spark was given an honorary doctorate of Letters from a number of universities, London, Edinburgh and Oxford among these. She died in 2006.