One of Scotland's most beloved novelists, whose literary fame was sealed with the publication in 1961 of THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, has died at the age of 88 at a hospital in Florence, Italy. Her death was announced Saturday, The Associated Press reported, by Massimiliano Dindalini, the mayor of the Tuscan village of Civitella della Chiana, where she had lived for almost 30 years.

Lengthy and thoughtful obits can be found at the New York Times, the Telegraph, and the Scotsman. Also worth noting is that Margaret Atwood recently became the inaugural Muriel Spark International Fellow, which will lead to the production of a new work and public appearances thereafter, and Kelly Jane Torrance's recent analysis of Spark's body of work, concluding "how wonderful it's been to have the gift of Muriel Spark in the century in which identity turned out to be paramount." Truer words were never spoken.