The Driver's Seat

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In Muriel Spark’s brilliantly dark novella, a search for adventure, sex and the obsessional experience turns into a journey of self-destruction

After having been driven to distraction by working in the same accountants’ office for 16 years, Lise flies south in search of passion and adventure.

She leaves everything behind her, transforms herself into a laughing, garishly dressed temptress and flies abroad on the holiday of a lifetime.

And so her fate is sealed. Infinity and eternity attend Lise’s last terrible day in the unnamed southern city that becomes her final destination.

Muriel Spark’s 1970 novel was one of the six books shortlisted for the Lost Man Booker, in 2010.

Muriel Spark was born in Edinburgh. A poet and novelist, she also wrote children’s books, radio plays, a comedy and biographies

A would-be novelist takes inspiration from life - but then finds the tables are mysteriously turned, in Muriel Spark’s entertaining literary joyride

A rising movie star begins to believe in her own meticulously manufactured public image in Muriel Spark’s cautionary tale of fame and identity