Folio Society Published Works Number 2016
Byatt, A S - Possession
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Byatt, A S - Possession (Published in by The Folio Society in 2009. Printed with a design by Rowena Dugdale. Set in Baskerville. Illustrated by Rowena Dugdale. Frontispiece and 8 colour illustrations. Size: 9" x 6.25", 528 pages. Winner of the 1990 Booker Prize, Possession is a tour de force by one of the finest novelists of her generation. Overflowing with ideas and themes, it is a literary detective story, a brilliant historical novel and a moving love story. While researching the Victorian poet Randolph Henry Ash, Roland Michell makes an extraordinary discovery: a letter written by Ash to an unknown woman with whom he seems enamoured. There is no evidence anywhere for the existence of such a woman, but Roland is determined to find out more. His detective work leads him to minor 19th-century poet and author Christabel LaMotte, and to Dr Maud Bailey, an expert on LaMotte. Together, Roland and Maud embark on a mission to unearth the truth about the relationship between Ash and LaMotte. The more they learn, the more personal and urgent their involvement becomes as they strive to defend their discovery against other interests and their own desires. Byatt impeccably recreates the Victorian universe of Ash and LaMotte, with convincing and engaging letters, prose and even poetry. She is no less expert in capturing the competitive atmosphere of the academic hothouse that Roland and Maud inhabit. Above all, the novel examines the very concept of possession. The result is a richly detailed and deeply engrossing book that draws the reader into the intertwining fates of the two couples, past and present. 'On academic rivalry and obsession, Byatt is delicious. On the nature of possession "the lover by the beloved, the biographer by his subject" she is profound. )
