Like Spark herself, this book is razor-sharp yet full of mystery . James Bailey traces the flicker between love and art, devotion and destruction, with extraordinary sensitivity. His portrait of Muriel Spark reveals a woman both brilliant and brutal, propelled by wit, ambition and moral daring. It's a study of artistic power and emotional risk, of how genius can illuminate and consume. Like a Cat Loves a Bird is as luminous and unsettling as the woman who inspired it.