James Bailey

Do I have any journalist/reviewer followers who are fans of Muriel Spark and would like to join Miriam Margolyes in owning a proof copy of Dr Bailey's excellent book about the writer? I have ended up with an extra proof, and proofs are precious, so I'd not want to let it go to waste.

George Buday continued creating many illustrations for The Radio Times amongst other commercial publications while living voluntarily at Netherne Hospital, working from his studio in an old summerhouse in the grounds, which was apparently full of cigarette smoke & blaring classical music

in love.

a cream colored french bulldog wishing for treats

this is Penelope.

kind of obsessed with this custom binding for Moby dick by Susan and Chaim Ebanks at Exeter Bookbinders

!!!

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Ha, yes!

So insane. Also, I would love to get a proof to you, if you’d like one!

Yes! Patricia Hodge was in it too!

Miriam Margolyes in the 1975 BBC adaptation of The Girls of Slender Means. Miriam is on a sofa, in 1940s garb, looking incredulously at another actor.

A stack of proof copies of Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark on a round wooden table. There is also a candle-holder, shaped like a mouse.

In case you were wondering about the Sparkian connection:50 years ago, Miriam Margolyes starred in the BBC adaptation of The Girls of Slender Means. She also narrated The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie audiobook. I hope she finds lots to love about Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark!

Like a Cat Loves a Bird NetGalley helps publishers and authors promote digital review copies to book advocates and industry professionals. Publishers make digital review copies and audiobooks available for the NetGalley comm...

This is perhaps a good moment to mention that if you’d also like to be the proud owner of a proof of LIKE A CAT LOVES A BIRD: THE NINE LIVES OF MURIEL SPARK, you can request one from NetGalley here: www.netgalley.co.uk/catalog/book...

Just in time for Christmas!

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Miriam Margolyes, holding a copy of Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark

Well this is ridiculous.

Will be listening attentively whatever the choice, but fingers firmly crossed for The Black Prince!

Side-profile photo of a pie dish, which looks like it is full of a cooked raspberry filling, on a wooden table

Side-profile, for all you fans of side-profile photos of pie dishes

A pie dish, which looks like it is full of a cooked raspberry filling, on a wooden table

A moment of appreciation for the pie dish I bought from the charity shop for a grand total of £3.50 🥧

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Like a Cat Loves a Bird NetGalley helps publishers and authors promote digital review copies to book advocates and industry professionals. Publishers make digital review copies and audiobooks available for the NetGalley comm...

News! ARCs of LIKE A CAT LOVES A BIRD: THE NINE LIVES OF MURIEL SPARK are now available to request on NetGalley, for those who like that sort of thing: www.netgalley.co.uk/catalog/book...

It’s utterly perfect.

Dust jacket bio for Cher’s autobiography: ‘Cher is a global icon.’

I am once again thinking about Cher’s author bio.

Well… you may want to turn to the Acknowledgements at the back when you get your copy. That’s all I’m saying! 🤐

More details about the book here, “for those who like that sort of thing”:
bsky.app/profile/drja...

Discovering that Muriel Spark adopted Patricia Highsmith's cat, Spider, is all I needed to make a dull day better.

Spark Plugs (or is that what I deliver, when I’m always yammering on about my book)

Take note, American Sparkites. Sparkettes? Sparkles.

A note in Publishers Marketplace, which reads ‘LIKE A CAT LOVES A BIRD by James Bailey: Imprint: Princeton University Press, Sceptre James Bailey's LIKE A CAT LOVES A BIRD: THE NINE LIVES OF MURIEL SPARK, a perspective on the life and career of the writer Bailey calls "one of literature's great shapeshifters", to Anne Savarese at Princeton University Press, for publication in spring 2026, by Amelia Atlas at CAA, on behalf of John Ash. Rights also to Charlotte Humphery at Sceptre (UK).’

Great big news!

My book, LIKE A CAT LOVES A BIRD: THE NINE LIVES OF MURIEL SPARK is coming to America! I'm so pleased that @princetonupress.bsky.social will be publishing my strange, slippery take on Spark's life and work. It'll be out in spring!

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The loneliest man in the world.

They’re in the book!

Is this where you find out you’ve been dead since the start of the film

A book with a white cover and a photo of a slide of a traffic island titled projecting British design stuck onto it in red lettering

A white book page with a photo of a slide children in animal costumes

This gorgeous little book of slides from the Design Council collection has arrived & single handedly saved my sanity