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Cover of The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark

The Driver’s Seat

by Muriel Spark

A woman moves through a foreign city with the calm purpose of someone approaching catastrophe.

Published
1970
Setting
Italy
Shelf rating
4.4

The story, briefly

Spoiler-free

A woman leaves home for a southern European city and moves through hotels, shops, strangers, and chance encounters on a journey toward disaster.

Why we recommend it

  1. A traveler moving calmly toward disaster

    Spark’s cold, exact prose creates the same unsettling distance between controlled sentences and catastrophe.

What this book explores

Book editions

Paperback edition cover
Paperback
ISBN-13
9780811223010

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References

References

The sources below include the primary text, editions, scholarship, archival materials, and other records that informed this page. They document The Driver’s Seat, its publication, and its place in literary history.

  1. 1The Driver’s Seat — Open Library ISBN catalogue

    Official record
    Open Library, Internet Archive
    Used for

    Open Library ISBN catalogue used to verify the title, ISBN, and publication metadata.

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  2. 2The Driver’s Seat — Google Books edition record

    Official record
    Google Books
    Used for

    Google Books catalogue record used to cross-check the title and edition metadata.

    View source

  1. 3The Driver’s Seat — Internet Archive ISBN catalogue

    Official record
    Internet Archive
    Used for

    Internet Archive ISBN catalogue used to cross-check the edition and its availability in library holdings.

    View source

  2. 4The Driver’s Seat — Library of Congress books catalogue

    Official record
    Library of Congress
    Used for

    Library of Congress books catalogue used to cross-check the bibliographic record by ISBN.

    View source
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Why these sources are here

The primary text is the baseline reference for every book page. Additional references document publication history, interpretation, and historical context where that evidence is available.

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