A Far Cry From Kensington (1988)

A Far Cry from Kensington is a novel (and a roman à clef) by British author Muriel Spark, published in 1988.

Plot introduction

Set in 1954, it is narrated by Agnes (known as Nancy) Hawkins; a young war widow lodging in a rooming house in South Kensington and working as an editor at a struggling publishing house. The story centres on Wanda, a highly strung Polish dressmaker who is receiving various threatening letters, and on Hector Bartlett, who appears to be stalking Agnes and through whom she loses her job. "Muriel Spark was trolled in her lifetime by an ex-lover who, by all accounts, was a pretty despicable character. This novel is her revenge on him." The story also features the pseudoscience of radionics.

Reception

Writing in The New York Times, Robert Plunkett declared that A Far Cry from Kensington was Muriel Spark's "most delightful novel in years", writing "the best way to convey the pleasure this novel gives is to compare it to a wonderful old Alec Guinness movie, something along the lines of The Lavender Hill Mob. True, it follows the rules of art right down the line and illuminates the human condition, etc. But it also meets a trickier challenge, that of being superb entertainment."

Publication history

1988, UK, Constable, ISBN 0-09-468290-9, published 21 March 1988, hardback

1988, US, Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 0-395-47694-1, published July 1988, hardback

1988, Canada, Viking, ISBN 0-670-82250-7, hardback

1989, UK, Thorndike Press, ISBN 0-89621-231-9, published March 1989, large print (h/b)

1989, UK, Penguin, ISBN 0-14-010874-2, published 25 May 1989, paperback

1990, US, Avon, ISBN 0-380-70786-1, published January 1990, paperback

1990, UK, Chivers, ISBN 0-7451-7187-7, published March 1990, large print (h/b)

1991, US, Listening Library, ISBN 0-8072-3186-X, published December 1991, audio cassette, read by Eleanor Bron

2000, UK, New Direction, ISBN 0-8112-1457-5, published 10 October 2000, paperback

2008, UK, Virago, ISBN 1-84408-527-9, published 1 May 2008, hardback

2009, UK, Virago, ISBN 1-84408-551-1, published 5 November 2009, paperback

2011, UK, Blackstone, ISBN various, audio CD/cassette/MP3, read by Pamela Garelick