Liz, Alix and Esther were among the most brilliant of their generation. To these three gifted and ambitious young women, fresh from Cambridge in the 1950s, the world offered its riches...

On New Year's Eve 1979 they reunite. What does the future now hold for Liz, assured Harley Street psychotherapist, wife, mother and stepmother; for relentlessly well-intentioned Alix, teaching English literature to young girl offenders; and for Esther, eccentric connoisseur of art, and resolutely single.

Margaret Drabble's magnificent new novel, her first for seven years, explores the lives of these three women, and in telling of their lives and losses, their hopes and fears, she creates an unforgettable panorama of our changing times.

RELEASE NOTES:

Finally made it to the grad pad, and found the OBCZ. I'm looking forward to reading this after I've finished a ring that I have just received.

Margaret Drabble is clearly a wonderful writer; there were passages in this book which seemed to me to be close to Virginia Woolf in their recreation of thought processes and revelation of the tiny nuances which individuate characters. And yet, this book failed to live up to its potential to be fantastic. The passages linking the lives of the three protagonists to historical events of the 1980s seemed strained, as did the 'Horror of Harrow Rd' murderer sub-plot. A narrative with the possibility of being a beautifully rendered examination of character instead tried and failed to become historical/state of the nation epic.

I did enjoy reading this; but was frustrated by it in many ways.
Incidentally, I noticed on Weds while reading the University Reporter that Margaret Drabble will receive an honorary degree at Senate House in June.

I'll think of somewhere in Cambridge to release this.

Adding to Bookgroupman's literary fiction bookbox.

Taken from the book box.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Happy reading!