Books by Frances Wilson
“The book focuses on the younger Muriel Spark. It’s actually very funny in places. Muriel Spark ran the Poetry Society for a while after the war, and the character sketches of the male poets of that time—men in ill-fitting corduroys thinking they could dominate or seduce this very vivacious, attractive woman… At every stage, she has to fight her way through against these slightly lechy, ridiculous men. Then there’s her service during the war at Bletchley Park. Frances Wilson uses that wartime experience of helping crack German messages to talk about Muriel Spark’s love of puzzles, of codes, of secrecy. When you go back and read her novels, you do see bits of trickery and things withheld. Blackmail appears in them a lot. Of the six books on the shortlist, this is probably the funniest. Frances Wilson is a very witty writer, and Muriel Spark had a very offbeat sense of humor. So there are bits that are terribly amusing.” Read more...
The Best Nonfiction Books of 2025: The Baillie Gifford Prize Shortlist
Robbie Millen, Journalist
The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth
by Frances Wilson
"It’s not the 'and then, and then' formulation of the 20th century biography. She just goes for the kernel of Dorothy Wordsworth’s life."
Interviews where books by Frances Wilson were recommended
The Best Literary Biographies, recommended by Lyndall Gordon
The inner life is a mystery but the best biographies expose the hidden kernel of a person, says literary biographer and academic, Lyndall Gordon. She picks five books that push the boundaries of the genre.
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1
The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s
by Jason Burke -
2
How to End a Story: Collected Diaries
by Helen Garner -
3
The Boundless Deep: Young Tennyson, Science and the Crisis of Belief
by Richard Holmes -
4
Captives and Companions: A History of Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Islamic World
by Justin Marozzi -
5
Lone Wolf: Walking the Faultlines of Europe
by Adam Weymouth -
6
Electric Spark: The Enigma of Muriel Spark
by Frances Wilson
The Best Nonfiction Books of 2025: The Baillie Gifford Prize Shortlist, recommended by Robbie Millen
The Best Nonfiction Books of 2025: The Baillie Gifford Prize Shortlist, recommended by Robbie Millen
From the terrorists who came up with the idea of hijacking planes to get attention to a biography of the Scottish novelist Muriel Spark, the books in the running for this year’s Baillie Gifford Prize, as always, display a wonderful breadth. Robbie Millen, literary editor of the Times and chair of the 2025 judging panel, talks us through the shortlist of the UK’s most prestigious nonfiction book prize.
