The Driver's Seat

By: Muriel Spark

Narrated by: Dame Judi Dench

Lise is thin, neither good-looking nor bad-looking. One day she walks out of her office, acquires a gaudy new outfit, adopts a girlier tone of voice, and heads to the airport to fly south. On the plane, she takes a seat between two men. One is delighted with her company, the other is deeply perturbed. So begins an unnerving journey into the darker recesses of human nature.

Read by Dame Judi Dench, rediscover this shocking masterpiece in audiobook on the 100th anniversary of Muriel Spark's birth.

©1970 Muriel Spark (P)1996 Canongate Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"An extraordinary tour de force, a crime story turned inside out." (David Lodge)

"Her spiny and treacherous masterpiece."( The New Yorker)

Masterfully written and read

First of all, a technical note: an earlier reviewer claims that the sound quality is very bad, and that the audiobook only contains 4 of the 7 chapters. If there was any problem with the audio, it's fixed now, and the quality is just fine. As for the number of chapters: yes, the audiobook is divided into 4 sections, but they have no relation to the chapters. Rest assured that no word from the original book is missing.

Now on to the book itself: Muriel Spark was a master of describing distressed, borderline psychotic people, and she does it very well here too. Personally, the only thing that bothered me was that the shock value of the book seems to have diminished somewhat in the forty years since it was written. Other than that, the book is excellent, and the narration is top notch.

what a pleasure to hear Judi Dench's voice!!!

Would you listen to The Driver's Seat again? Why?

maybe, just for the pleasure of JD's voice or to try to squeeze some sense from the story.

Would you be willing to try another book from Muriel Spark? Why or why not?

I already read Memento Mori and bought another one, so yes I would.

What does Judi Dench bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Her voice is clear and so warm and fun.

If you could take any character from The Driver's Seat out to dinner, who would it be and why?

I did not like any of them so I wouldn't take anyone to dinner

strange tale by a great writer

i read this book years ago and wasn't sure i would still like it. i did. it is dark, intense, believable, and brief. the reading by judi dench is wonderful as always, but the recording is old, probably taken off old cassettes or something! for me, it didn't interrupt the pleasure. i wish audibles would get much more muriel spark, especially her great novels like the prime of miss jean brodie, girls of slender means, memento mori. not to mention the short stories. come on, audibles, dig up some more old recordings and make them available for this great price! at least one listener will be grateful.

Unhappy with this product

I must say I'm very unhappy with this product for two main reasons:
1) There are only 4 chapters / 7 available in this record
2) The sound is really bad and a sort of echo can be heard throughout those chapters