Aiding and Abetting (novel)
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 First edition cover | |
| Author | Muriel Spark |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Andy Bridge |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
Publication date | 26 July 2000 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | 0-14-029747-2 |
| OCLC | 47063403 |
Aiding and Abetting is a novel written by Muriel Spark and published in 2000, six years before her death. Unlike her other novels, it draws inspiration from a documented occurrence; however, the author acknowledges in a note that she has taken liberties with the facts.[1]
The central figure in the novel is Hildegarde Wolf, a fraudulent psychiatrist also known as Beate Pappenheim, who practices in Paris.[1][2] She finds herself with two patients, both claiming to be Lord Lucan, an English earl who, in a real-life event in London in 1974, mistakenly killed his daughter's nanny, believing her to be his wife.[1][2] Building upon this premise, the novel unfolds with a series of humorous coincidences and improbable situations, as the two "Lucans" blackmail Dr. Wolf. The tragic mix-up between the nanny and the wife serves as a mirrored reflection in the intertwined destinies of the two Lucans. In the final chapters set in Africa, there is a reminiscent quality of Evelyn Waugh's novel A Handful of Dust (1934), who was a model and occasional mentor to Muriel Spark.[2][3]
