LoveReading Says
If you are a Margaret Drabble fan then you will know her strength is in characterisation. Here she concentrates on a family and elderly friends with the narrative switching between them as each character analyses the others. It is a novel about growing old and dying, centring mostly on a seventy-plus lady, Fran, working for a care charity. She has two children, one in the Canary Islands licking his wounds after the unexpected death of his lover and the other in the West Country. For a novel which is not crime there are a surprising number of deaths. The author beautifully captures the emotions and actions of the elderly, the signs of aging that only they notice in themselves and their thoughts of death. But this is not a depressing or morbid book, rather it is an insightful and very moving one which is actually in a way comforting. There is a good deal of symbolism and stunning imagery which is coloured with historical, artistic, literary and cultural references, a joy to read. ~ Sarah Broadhurst
Sarah Broadhurst
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The Dark Flood Rises Synopsis
Fran may be old but she's not going without a fight. So she dyes her hair, enjoys every glass of red wine, drives restlessly around the country and lives in an insalubrious tower block that her loved ones disapprove of. And as each of them - her pampered ex Claude, old friend Jo, flamboyant son Christopher and earnest daughter Poppet - seeks happiness in their own way, what will the last reckoning be? Will they be waving or drowning when the end comes? By turns joyous and profound, darkly sardonic and moving, The Dark Flood Rises questions what makes a good life, and a good death.
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Margaret Drabble Press Reviews
'Erudite, beautifully written, funny, tragic' Daily Mail
'Darkly witty and exhilarating' The Times
'Her distinctive narrative voice and soaring prose remain electrifying' Telegraph
'With its echoes of Simone de Beauvoir and Samuel Beckett, this quiet meditation an old age seethes with apocalyptic intent ... Brilliant' Guardian
'Masterly, poignant and uplifting' Mail on Sunday
'Drabble has pulled off a quietly revolutionary portrait of an age-group whose lives are just as urgent as anyone's but are rarely considered' ***** Sunday Telegraph
'Ageing and dying in style ... Margaret Drabble's sharply drawn characters look back on lives lived and forwards to achieving a good death' Observer
'Uplifting ... Profound ... Unforgettable ... At its heart is the enormous question, how do we know if we've had a good life?' Sunday Telegraph
About Margaret Drabble
Dame Margaret Drabble was born in Sheffield in 1939 and was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge. She is the author of eighteen novels including A Summer Bird-Cage, The Millstone, The Peppered Moth, The Red Queen, The Sea Lady and most recently, the highly acclaimed The Pure Gold Baby. She has also written biographies, screenplays and was the editor of the Oxford Companion to English Literature. She was appointed CBE in 1980, and made DBE in the 2008 Honours list. She was also awarded the 2011 Golden PEN Award for a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature. She is married to the biographer Michael Holroyd.
Author photo © Ruth Corney
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