The Ballad of Peckham Rye
Written by Muriel Spark / Introduction by Ronald Frame
£9.99
702 in stock
Fiction
Reviews
The novel is wickedly funny, if cruel. I prefer it to Spark’s The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie'
Daily Mail, Best Books Ever, 2020
As I entered my teens, I developed a taste for more arch, snappy writing and discovered the joys of Muriel Spark. Wisdom and wit — ideal for an impressionable youth finding his way in the world'
Daily Mail
About the Book
A bewitching comic masterpiece, The Ballad of Peckham Rye relates the tale of one Dougal Douglas, who is taken on by a small textile firm to ‘bring vision into the lives of the workers’. A devilishly charismatic force of nature who likes nothing better than to stir things up, he takes great delight in wreaking havoc with the locals. Nervous breakdowns, sexual misdemeanours, a heart attack and murder ensue . . . This is Spark at her most ingenious.
The publishers acknowledge investment from Creative Scotland towards the publication of this book.
Supported by the Muriel Spark Society.
The Authors
Muriel Spark
Muriel Spark was born in Edinburgh in 1918. A poet, essayist, biographer and novelist, she won much international praise, including being twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The Times placed her eighth in its list of the Fifty Greatest British Writers Since 1945. She died in Tuscany in 2006.Ronald Frame
Ronald Frame was born in Glasgow in 1953, and educated there and at Oxford. He is the author of many works of fiction, including the Booker-longlisted The Lantern Bearers, and is an award-winning television and radio scriptwriter.Alan Taylor
Alan Taylor has contributed to numerous publications, including The TLS, The New Yorker and The Melbourne Age, and edited four acclaimed anthologies – The Assassin’s Cloak (2000), The Secret Annexe (2004), The Country Diaries (2009) and most recently, Glasgow: The Autobiography (2016).Related
-
Hardback | Pub: 16 Nov 2017£9.99£7.99Caroline Rose has a problem. She hears voices and the incessant tapping of typewriter keys, and she seems to be a character in a novel . . . A comedy of errors, a crime novel, a book about books, Spark’s debut remains as otherworldly and...
-
Hardback | Pub: 06 Sep 2018£9.99Hildegard Wolf is a German psychiatrist who lives a comfortable life in Paris. When she encounters a client who claims to be Lord Lucan, she can’t help but be intrigued. After all, he’s the second man who has claimed to be the elusive lord. But...
-
Hardback | Pub: 10 May 2018£9.99During World War II, Elsa and Paul were involved in secret propaganda work in England. It is now 1973 and they are living in New York. Elsa is convinced that a German ex-POW – and former lover – who has appeared in New York, may be planning to...
-
E-Book | Pub: 01 Sep 2011£7.99This complete collection of Agnes Owens’ five novellas opens with ‘Like Birds in the Wilderness’, a portrait of brickie Mac. He’s a straightforward guy with a talent for laying bricks and a liking for the drink who decides to head to...
