Summary of Possession
Roland Michell and Maud Bailey are two young academics investigating the secret love affair between two Victorian poets: Randolph Henry Ash (loosely modelled on Alfred Tennyson or Robert Browning) and Christabel LaMotte (often compared to Christina Rossetti). As Roland and Maud uncover more about the poets’ hidden romance, they find themselves falling in love as well…
Reasons to read Possession
“Possession” weaves together the present day with the Victorian era through a variety of forms, including poetry, letters, diaries, and scholarly articles. The novel became an international bestseller and won both the Booker Prize and the Irish Times International Fiction Prize in 1990. In 2002, it was adapted into a film starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart. Time Magazine listed “Possession” among the 100 Best English-language Novels published between 1923 and 2005, and it also appeared on the BBC’s 2003 survey The Big Read. A. S. Byatt was a distinguished English author, known for her short stories, poems and novels such as “Possession” and “The Children’s Book” (winner of the 2010 Tait Black Memorial Prize).
Setting: London, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire (England, UK) & Brittany (France)
Original title: Possession – a Romance
Year of publication: 1990
Nr of pages: 576
