Book cover for The Only Problem: A Novel by Muriel Spark

The Only Problem

A Novel

2012 Released
186 Pages
2-3 Hours
Audiobook Unavailable
Paperback Unavailable
Hardback Unavailable
Open Road MediaISBN 9781453245040

A wealthy academic's life shatters when his estranged wife becomes the suspected leader of a terrorist organization   Having led a successful, comfortable life, Harvey Gotham retires to the French countryside to pursue bookish obsessions—namely, a long monograph on the Book of Job, the biblical narrative of faith in the face of extraordinary suffering. But Gotham's intellectual interests soon bleed into his daily life when a series of misfortunes, from a destructive affair to his wife's involvement with an extremist group, threaten to destroy everything he holds dear.   Hailed by the New York Times as "an extremely sophisticated account of the perils that surround our unsuspecting lives in the world today,"The Only Problem balances Spark's unique blend of razor-sharp satire and moral introspection in one fast-paced, absorbing novel.   This ebook features an illustrated biography of Muriel Spark including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author's archive at the National Library of Scotland.

Muriel Spark

Muriel Spark (1918–2006) was a prolific Scottish novelist, short story writer, and poet whose darkly comedic voice made her one of the most distinctive writers of the twentieth century. Spark grew up in Edinburgh and worked as a department store secretary, writer for trade magazines, and literary editor before publishing her first novel in 1957. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), considered her masterpiece, was made into a stage play, a TV series, and a film. Spark became a Dame of the British Empire in 1993.

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