The Hothouse by the East River

Description

During World War II, Elsa and Paul were involved in secret propaganda work in England. It is now 1973 and they are living in New York. Elsa is convinced that a German ex-POW - and former lover - who has appeared in New York, may be planning to kill them. And what's more, her shadow is pointing in the wrong direction: to the East. This is one of the 22 novels written by Muriel Spark in her lifetime. All are being published by Polygon in hardback Centenary Editions between November 2017 and September 2018.

Muriel Spark was born in Edinburgh in 1918. A poet, essayist, biographer and novelist, she won much international praise, including being twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The Times placed her eighth in its list of the Fifty Greatest British Writers Since 1945. She died in Tuscany in 2006. Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982. His novel, The Flood, was published in 1986. A year later came Knots & Crosses, his first novel to feature the detective John Rebus. The bestselling Rebus series has been translated into twenty-two languages and adapted for television.

'As I entered my teens, I developed a taste for more arch, snappy writing and discovered the joys of Muriel Spark. Wisdom and wit - ideal for an impressionable youth finding his way in the world'. - -- Julian Clary * Daily Mail *