Margaret Drabble

I've been collecting Margaret Drabble novels for some time now but have read very few. She is one of those authors I intend to read more of. Admittedly, I first discovered her as editor of The Oxford Companion to English Literature which I read cover to cover in the late eighties.

This seems like a good place to solicit comments and recommendations from all of you literary Anglophiles. How would you describe her fiction? What do you think are her best novels? Who would you compare her most to?

My favourites would be the trilogy The Radiant Way, A Natural Curiosity, The Gates of Ivory. It's a long time since I read any of the early novels. I've got The Red Queen on my unread pile. The Peppered Moth has some good bits, but I found it a bit unsatisfying, somehow. I think I enjoyed The Witch of Exmoor, but I don't remember much about it, so maybe not a very strong recommendation...

General characterisation: Aga-sagas for the intellignet, perhaps? Characters tend to be middle-class intellectuals, settings usually London or Sheffield, a lot of ideas, earlier works tended to focus on feminist issues, but there's a lot about education (theme of The Radiant way), politics, the arts...

Comparison: most obviously her sister, of course. (Oddly enough they both seem to have a written a lot of novels about sisters growing up in Yorkshire and moving to the literary world of London...). Otherwise people like Penelope Lively, Margaret Attwood.

I've read The Red Queen and overall it was quite good. A friend who I rely on for good recommendations absolutely loves Margaret Drabble.

> I've got The Red Queen on my unread pile

Not any more: I bumped her up to the top and read it today. Heartily recommended -- I've posted a review. Opinion seems to be divided: of the other two people who've reviewed the book on LT one hated it and the other liked it.

'The Red Queen' and 'The Radiant Way' are in the '1001 Books You Must Read' list. I'll confess that I haven't read them, however....

#2> Who is Margaret Drabble's sister?

I know that she is married to the writer Michael Holroyd but I didm't know she had a famous writer sister? I enjoy her writing but think I prefer Penelope Lively and Jane Gardam if I had to pick up one this kind of genre.

Her sister is A.S. Byatt and, apparently, they do not get along at all.

Possession and The Gates of Ivory were two of my all time favorite books and until I read this thread I would never have dreamed they were sisters. What is the family history that they should churn out two such fabulous writers?

What is the family history that they should churn out two such fabulous writers?

Who knows....perhaps just luck....or genes....or having been exposed to books since very early childhood in a stimulating environment....or a bit of all that.

Well - knowing that those two are sisters - now I want to read their memoir(s). Sounds interesting. Thanks for the info.

Somewhere around here I have a book on Margaret Drabble...if I can find it, I'll take a quick look and see if there if much reference to the sister thing.