Remarkable: an entirely original method of life writing which leaves conventional biographical techniques gasping in the dust

Lisa Hilton, Spectator

Wilson is not any old biographer. Her books are intense, eclectic and wildly diversionary, her intelligence rising from their pages like steam – and in Spark, the cleverest and the weirdest of them all, she may have found her ultimate subject

Rachel Cooke, Observer

I raced through Frances Wilson's whip-smart Electric Spark

Ali Smith, Guardian

I've always enjoyed Muriel Spark's droll wit, and there is plenty on offer in Frances Wilson's biography of the author . . . Wilson expertly dissects the author's writing . . . A welcome reminder to return to a gloriously talented novelist

Martin Chilton, Independent

So original and engaging . . . The result of this blend of existing sources and fresh archival finds is an unputdownable and “electric” perspective on the extraordinary talent and life that together forged Spark's fiction . . . A fabulous achievement, in more than one sense

Isabel Berwick, Financial Times

Admiring yet sceptical . . . A dynamic and dizzying weave of early struggles and future success

Anthony Cummins, Mail on Sunday