Listen to a sample
Like a Cat Loves a Bird
- Author
- James Bailey
- Narrator
- Harley Viveash
- Publisher
- Hodder & Stoughton
- Publish Date
- 9 April 2026
- Run Time
- 8 hours 42 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
Not available in your country
We don't have the rights to sell this audiobook where you are. If it's already in your library you can still listen to it in My Books.
What to expect
WILLIAM BOYD, Guardian
"This is a deeply stylish, astute and illuminating biography of a fascinating writer"
FRANCESCA WADE, author of Square Haunting
"Utterly charming. A book as elegant, sharp-witted and mischievous as its subject"
CLARE POLLARD, author of Delphi
"Like a Spark novel, the moment my eyes met the page I knew I wouldn't be able to stop reading . . . A magnificent piece of work"
ROBIN INCE
"She was, if you believe what you read in the papers: a genius, a survivor, a bad mother, a fickle friend, a closeted lesbian, a tyrant, a loner, an eccentric, a recluse, a gossip, and an arch-manipulator. She would politely encourage you not to believe what you read in the papers."
Muriel Spark was one of literature's great shapeshifters. That mercurial quality is found in her strange, brilliant, cruel novels - with their plots featuring pensioners receiving telephone calls from Death, the devil going clubbing in Peckham and a fascist schoolmistress leading her coterie of girls astray - but it is also true of her as a person.
As sly, nimble and elegant as Spark's own work, Like a Cat Loves a Bird is a thrilling new perspective on a remarkable life and career that spanned much of the twentieth century. From her childhood in Edinburgh to her final years in Tuscany - via South Africa, London, New York and Rome - it traces a light-footed journey around the world and through her strange and magnificent bibliography. It tells an irresistible story of transformation, wit and fierce determination and makes a passionate case for this vital modern artist.
"You don't have to be a Muriel Spark fan to enjoy the sharp wit of Like a Cat Loves a Bird, a fascinating and nuanced exploration of the sacrifices some make to focus on their art"
LUKE TURNER, author of Out of the Woods
"Vital, fun and immediate . . . full of engaging and astute literary analysis of Spark's work as well as scintillating, vivid biography"
FRANCESCA REECE, author of Glass Houses
"A readable and fascinating book, about an under-appreciated literary giant"
LUCINDA HAWKSLEY, author of The Mystery of Princess Louise
Critics Review
-
First-class . . . a witty, stylish read
The Sunday Times
-
Remarkably shrewd and surprisingly amusing
Guardian
-
Clever ... Spark's nine lives, also presented as a "series of flickering sparks", neatly capture both the slipperiness and the picaresque quality of this most elusive of subjects ... [Bailey's] Spark is a likeable monster and his wit and playfulness are well suited to his subject. He is a good close reader and this is a biography that will delight those who admire Spark's 22 novels and intrigue those who are new readers or who know only The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
The Times
-
Bailey's slippery Spark is chaotic, complex, often hilarious, and constantly shapeshifting. His kaleidoscopic portrait illuminates Spark's life and work from every angle, yet - crucially - allows her the freedom she craved to confound and elude those who would try to pin her down. This is a deeply stylish, astute and illuminating biography of a fascinating writer
Francesca Wade, author of SQUARE HAUNTING
See more reviews See fewer reviews
-
Inventive not inventing ... Bailey's approach isn't a conventional "life" so much as a hybrid of literary criticism, personal appreciation and a novel
The Scotsman
-
A fresh take on the well-known facts of Spark's life and work. James Bailey's title reveals his singular perspective...A lively, quirky addition to the corpus of work on Spark which, as with the others, will send readers back to her inimitable novels
The Herald
-
Astute . . . a welcome addition for anyone caught in the mental claws of one of the most elusive and brilliant writers of modern times
Independent
-
Incisive . . . memorable
Daily Mail
-
Utterly charming. A book as elegant, sharp-witted and mischievous as its subject. If you love literary biography, you'll feel like the cat that got the cream
Clare Pollard, author of DELPHI
-
What an exciting piece of writing - like a Spark novel, the moment my eyes met the page I knew I wouldn't be able to stop reading - it will be quite impossible for anyone to read this and not immediately feel the urgent need to read everything she wrote. A magnificent piece of work
Robin Ince
-
You don't have to be a Muriel Spark fan to enjoy the sharp wit of Like A Cat Loves A Bird, a fascinating and nuanced exploration of the sacrifices some make to focus on their art. Bailey toys with Spark as the title implies - but there's an implication too that so does she, with her biographer and her readers, on the page, and from beyond the grave
Luke Turner, author of OUT OF THE WOODS
-
Beautifully written ... a readable and fascinating book, about an under-appreciated literary giant
Lucinda Hawksley, author of THE MYSTERY OF PRINCESS LOUISE
-
Vital, fun and immediate. Like a Cat Loves a Bird is lithe and compelling, and full of engaging and astute literary analysis of Spark's work as well as scintillating, vivid biography. A must-read for devotees
Francesca Reece, author of GLASS HOUSES
-
In Like A Cat Loves a Bird, James Bailey has given his reader a sparkling and witty exploration of Spark's life and work and a serious and complex study of the slippery, playful connections between art and artist. Spark remains as curious and elusive as ever, and Bailey treats the reader to tantalising glimpses of one of our finest novelists without ever reducing her. I loved this book
Jenn Ashworth, author of THE PARALLEL PATH
-
Bailey must be commended for getting as close as anyone can to capturing the slipperiness of this elusive, restless novelist, an intellectual monster who privileged her writing above all else, who came and went as she pleased, like one of her favourite felines, stalking and toying with her characters, forever on the prowl for a life less ordinary.
Nicholas Shakespeare, author of IAN FLEMING: THE COMPLETE MAN
-
I cannot imagine a book I'd rather read, one that brings Spark's fascinating life and works together in electrifying detail and dynamic structure. Bailey somehow evokes Spark's enigmatic style when weaving together the many histories that compose her artistic biography. It's as entertaining as a thriller and as enlightening as a whole course in Spark Studies, which should exist with James Bailey as the don.
Holly Pester, author of THE LODGERS
-
Like Spark herself, this book is razor-sharp yet full of mystery. James Bailey traces the flicker between love and art, devotion and destruction, with extraordinary sensitivity. His portrait of Muriel Spark reveals a woman both brilliant and brutal, propelled by wit, ambition and moral daring. It's a study of artistic power and emotional risk, of how genius can illuminate and consume. Like a Cat Loves a Bird is as luminous and unsettling as the woman who inspired it
Sophie Haydock, author of THE FLAMES
-
Much like Spark herself Bailey carries the reader away on an amorphous adventure with Like a Cat Loves a Bird, his impish wit sugaring profound insights. Studious but never tedious, stylish and compassionate, this biography is essential reading for die-hard Sparkheads and apprentices to the trade alike
Lauren J. Joseph, author of AT CERTAIN POINTS WE TOUCH
-
Scholarly and enticing at the same time - an irresistible and compelling 'behind the scenes' window into the mind and times of Muriel Spark
Helen Lederer
-
Bailey's portrait of Spark left me missing her company after the last page was turned, yet newly appreciative of her work. Lively, incisive and immersive, this is an enthralling study of invention and self-invention
Sarah Marsh, author of A Sign of Her Own
-
[Bailey] has great fun in exploring possibilities, imagining scenarios, creating scenes and celebrating [Spark's] enigmatic writing. Still, there are facts here, and you will learn a lot, not only about Spark, but about the changing (and depressingly persistent) sensibilities of the 20th century
Scotland on Sunday
User Reviews
No reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- James Bailey
- Narrator
- Harley Viveash
- Duration
- 8 hours 42 minutes
- Release Date
- 9 April 2026
- ISBN
- 9781399742559
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Hodder & Stoughton
- Genre
- Biography: writers, Anthologies
Synopsis
"Remarkably shrewd and surprisingly amusing"WILLIAM BOYD, Guardian"This is a deeply stylish, astute and illuminating biography of a fascinating writer"FRANCESCA WADE, author of Square Haunting"Utterly charming. A book as elegant, sharp-witted and mischievous as its subject"CLARE POLLARD, author of Delphi"Like a Spark novel, the moment my eyes met the page I knew I wouldn't be able to stop reading . . . A magnificent piece of work"ROBIN INCE"She was, if you believe what you read in the papers: a genius, a survivor, a bad mother, a fickle friend, a closeted lesbian, a tyrant, a loner, an eccentric, a recluse, a gossip, and an arch-manipulator. She would politely encourage you not to believe what you read in the papers."Muriel Spark was one of literature's great shapeshifters. That mercurial quality is found in her strange, brilliant, cruel novels - with their plots featuring pensioners receiving telephone calls from Death, the devil going clubbing in Peckham and a fascist schoolmistress leading her coterie of girls astray - but it is also true of her as a person. As sly, nimble and elegant as Spark's own work, Like a Cat Loves a Bird is a thrilling new perspective on a remarkable life and career that spanned much of the twentieth century. From her childhood in Edinburgh to her final years in Tuscany - via South Africa, London, New York and Rome - it traces a light-footed journey around the world and through her strange and magnificent bibliography. It tells an irresistible story of transformation, wit and fierce determination and makes a passionate case for this vital modern artist."You don't have to be a Muriel Spark fan to enjoy the sharp wit of Like a Cat Loves a Bird, a fascinating and nuanced exploration of the sacrifices some make to focus on their art"LUKE TURNER, author of Out of the Woods"Vital, fun and immediate . . . full of engaging and astute literary analysis of Spark's work as well as scintillating, vivid biography"FRANCESCA REECE, author of Glass Houses"A readable and fascinating book, about an under-appreciated literary giant" LUCINDA HAWKSLEY, author of The Mystery of Princess Louise
About xigxag
xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK's only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.
There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at $13.95. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from $7.95. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.
Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.
Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.