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Loitering with Intent

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Loitering with Intent

By: Muriel Spark
Narrated by: Nadia May
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"How wonderful to be an artist and a woman in the twentieth century," Fleur Talbot rejoices. Loitering about London in 1949, with intent to gather material for her writing, Fleur finds a job "on the grubby edge of the literary world", as secretary to the odd Autobiographical Association. Are they a group of mad egomaniacs, hilariously writing their memoirs in advance, or poor fools ensnared by a blackmailer? Rich material, in any case.

But when its pompous director, Sir Quentin, steals the manuscript of Fleur's new novel, fiction begins to appropriate life. The association's members begin to act out scenes exactly as Fleur herself had already written them in her missing manuscript. And as they meet darkly funny, pre-visioned fates, where does art start or reality end?

©1981 Copyright Administration, Ltd. (P)2002 Blackstone Audiobooks Women
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Critic Reviews

"I read this book in a delirium of delight. In Loitering with Intent, Miss Spark returns to the early flawless form of Memento Mori and The Comforters....Robust and full-bodied, a wise and mature work, and a brilliantly mischievous one." (The New York Times Book Review)

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Quirky characters, plenty of humour, good plot, well read . Sad to end it. will look for other books written by Muriel Sparks

ripping good yarn

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At times very funny. The plot is not as interesting as the moments of wry humour created by a very dry narrator. Worth the listen.

An interesting novel with a memorable narrative voice

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Spark always has something to say and says it brightly and thoughtfully. Narrator was so good I looked for her other readings and grabbed a cut-price Paradise Lost (not such a huge leap from Spark, arguably)

Narrator delightfully conveys Spark's lively mind

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I am revisiting Muriel Spark 's novels after reading the biography by Frances Wilson. This novel is autobiographical and insights from her biography about Muriel Spark's life and character have added to my enjoyment of this novel.

Quirky and amusing

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the narrator's voice started to get to me. The story itself was initially entertaining but ended up boring me half to death

Enjoyed this at first

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