A would-be novelist takes inspiration from life - but then finds the tables are mysteriously turned, in Muriel Spark’s entertaining literary joyride
The Public Image
Written by Muriel Spark
- Shortlisted
- The Booker Prize 1969
- Published by Macmillan
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A rising movie star begins to believe in her own meticulously manufactured public image in Muriel Spark’s cautionary tale of fame and identity
Spark chooses Rome, ‘the motherland of sensation’, for the setting of her story. Up-and-coming star Annabel Christopher (known to adoring movie fans as ‘The English Lady-Tiger’) carefully cultivates her public image. But she then makes the fatal mistake of actually believing in it. This crucial error and her embittered husband, a spectacularly unsuccessful actor, catch up with her, and her final act is only the first shocking climax. Further surprises await…
Muriel Spark
Muriel Spark was born in Edinburgh. A poet and novelist, she also wrote children’s books, radio plays, a comedy and biographies
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