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A. (Antonio) S. (Susan) Byatt and Margaret Drabble are two British
novelists who are considered among the most erudite writers in
today's marketplace. Born in the 1930's these sisters are called
post-modern Victorians and are known for telling good solid stories.
Byatt's 1990 Possession propelled her to international
fame. Two young contemporary scholars uncover clues to a clandestine
love affair between two fictitious Victorian poets. As the sleuths
trace the poets' movements from London to Brittany and delve deeper
into their letters, journals and poems a mystery of uncommon depth
evolves.
The Virgin In The Garden, which explores postwar English
life, is a coming of age story. Seventeen¬year- old Frederica
Potter comes to realize that she must escape from her oppressive
family, which includes her older sister, Stephanie, a gifted writer
and her withdrawn math genius brother, Marcus.
Byatt is called a novelist of ideas and it is said that her interests
extend to literary scholarship to painting, politics history,
religion, counter-culture and the influence of art on life. Ron
Charles of the Christian Science Monitor put it another
way,
" ... entering one of Byatt' s books is like going to a
party of very smart people. The initial thrill of mingling with
such brilliance is tempered by the nagging sense of one's relative
stupidity.
Margaret Drabble, A. S.'s younger sister, is known for her coming
of age stories about love, marriage and motherhood.
The Peppered Moth, which is a Simi biographical account
of Drabble's mother's life, features three generations of women.
The Needle's Eye is a novel about personal morality.
Rose is a young heiress who gives up her inheritance to marry
Christopher Vassiliou. She infuriates him by giving away a thirty
thousand pound legacy to a dubious African charity and then by
refusing to move out of their middle class house to a more fashionable
neighborhood. At the time of the novel Rose has divorced Christopher,
who is trying to get her back or to get custody of their children.
Stephanie Foote, a reviewer for Booke has noted that
Drabble is "a master of quirky, richly drawn characters ...
who is attuned to people on the brink of unexpected change".
Joan Rintelman
Director
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