A Far Cry from Kensington

by Muriel Spark

First published 1988

Plucky widow Nancy Hawkins navigates the chaotic offices of a struggling London publisher, where a rejected author seeks revenge through quack science. As Nancy's colleagues spiral into madness, she remains the calm center, wryly observing the absurdity around her. This sly, subversive comedy skewers the foibles of the publishing world and the desperation of the human condition.

Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary

Vibes: atmospheric, thought-provoking, wry

Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator

Setting: London (England)

Period: 20th-century

194 pages · Hardcover · Virago

More by Muriel Spark

• The Girls of Slender Means
• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
• Memento Mori
• The Mandelbaum Gate
• The Bachelors
• The Ballad of Peckham Rye
• Robinson
• The Public Image

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