Loitering with Intent

By: Muriel Spark

Narrated by: Nadia May

"How wonderful to be an artist and a woman in the twentieth century," Fleur Talbot rejoices. Loitering about London in 1949, with intent to gather material for her writing, Fleur finds a job "on the grubby edge of the literary world", as secretary to the odd Autobiographical Association. Are they a group of mad egomaniacs, hilariously writing their memoirs in advance, or poor fools ensnared by a blackmailer? Rich material, in any case.

But when its pompous director, Sir Quentin, steals the manuscript of Fleur's new novel, fiction begins to appropriate life. The association's members begin to act out scenes exactly as Fleur herself had already written them in her missing manuscript. And as they meet darkly funny, pre-visioned fates, where does art start or reality end?

©1981 Copyright Administration, Ltd. (P)2002 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"I read this book in a delirium of delight. In Loitering with Intent, Miss Spark returns to the early flawless form of Memento Mori and The Comforters....Robust and full-bodied, a wise and mature work, and a brilliantly mischievous one." (The New York Times Book Review)

As Good As Pym--Maybe Better!

Loitering with Intent is a smart, funny novel set in the publishing world of late 1940s London. Fleur Talbot has written a novel whose characters just happen to resemble the people she works with at the Autobiographical Society--so much so that events in the novel start to happen in real life. But while Fleur insists that it's all just fiction, her employer, Sir Quentin Oliver, goes to extreme lengths to keep the novel from being published--and to get his hands on a copy.

Spark's novel brims with eccentric characters, including Sir Oliver, Fleur's coworkers, and her various lovers--one of whom is the husband of a co-worker who has not only Fleur on the side but also a gay poet named Gray Mauser. The best of the bunch is Sir Oliver's elderly mother, Edwina, who uses her supposed senility and incontinence as weapons and who helps Fleur to get the best of everyone.

I read and loved Spark's A Far Cry from Kensington earlier this month and was eager to read more by her. Through Fleur, she's a keen observer of human nature and the foibles of polite society. Loitering with Intent is delightful, witty, urbane, and even at times downright hilarious. Spark is now right up there with Barbara Pym in my estimation--and may even surpass her.

Delicious!

Pairing Nadia May and Muriel Spark was a heavenly event. This beautifully plotted Book could not have found a better reader.

One of the best

If you like really good writing without a word gone to waste, and a deep ironic sense of humor, you can’t beat this one.

Loitering with intent

I listened to the audio book version. I found myself being irritated by the main character being too trusting to the point of stupidity. the story was interesting and just plain silly because of the characters being so annoying.

classic Spark!

A good story, well told The narrator did a good job with so many characters, it was easy to keep track of the cast, and to enjoy listening to a story while working on a project