Bøger af Margaret Drabble

Writers, artists and thinkers in British life talk about what Europe means to them

Bringing together new short stories by ten of the city's most celebrated writers. From young creatives and refugees, to scrap metal collectors and student radicals, these stories offer ten different look-out points from which to gaze down on the ever-changing face of the 'Steel City'.

Frances Wingate er 35 år, og tilsyneladende lykkes det hende at klare det hele. Hun er en anerkendt arkæolog, der allerede har præsteret fremragende forskningsresultater, og hun er midt i en glimrende videnskabelig karriere. Hun er fraskilt med fire børn, som hun er en acceptabel mor for, og hun har haft et entusiastisk forhold til en gift mand.Her står vi, da romanen "Riger af guld" begynder.Vi lærer Frances personligt at kende som et frit, selvstændigt menneske, glad for sin position, intelligent funderende over livet og de vilkår, moderne mennesker lever under. Hun har appetit på livet – men under den blankpolerede overflade ulmer følelser, som hun helst vil holde skjult ...Margaret Drabble (f. 1939) er en engelsk forfatter og samfundskritiker, der har vundet en lang række priser for sin litteratur. Endvidere er Margaret Drabble blevet udnævnt som "Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire" i 2008. Margaret Drabble debuterede som forfatter i 1963 med romanen "A Summer Bird-Cage", og sidenhen er det blevet til en lang række anmelderroste romaner.

The new novel from literary great Margaret Drabble is by turns dark and joyous, hilarious and heartbreaking, and asks us what makes a good life, and a good death

'Arnold Bennett was born in a street called Hope Street. A street less hopeful it would be hard to imagine.' Thus begins Margaret Drabble's biography of a man whose most famous achievement was to re-create, in such novels as The Old Wives' Tale and Clayhanger, the life, atmosphere and character of the 'Five Towns' region in which he was born and grew up.Arnold Bennett is a very personal book. 'What interests me', writes the author, 'is Bennett's background, his childhood and origins, for they are very similar to my own. My mother's family came from the Potteries, and the Bennett novels seem to me to portray a way of life that still existed when I was a child, and indeed persists in certain areas. So like all books this has been partly an act of self-exploration.'Of Bennett as a writer Drabble says 'The best books I think are very fine indeed, on the highest level, deeply moving, original and dealing with material that I had never before encountered in fiction, but only in life: I feel they have been underrated, and my response to them is so constant, even after years of work on them and constant re-readings, that I want to communicate enthusiasm.'Of Bennett as a man she paints an affectionate portrait, not glossing over the irritability, dyspepsia and rigidity which at times made him so difficult a companion but reminding us too of his honesty, kindliness and sensitivity. 'Many a time,' she writes at the end of the book, 're-reading a novel, reading a letter or a piece of his Journal, I have wanted to shake his hand, or to thank him, to say well done. I have written this instead.'

Novelist, critic and biographer, Margaret Drabble is one of the major literary figures of her generation. This collection shows her to be a leading practitioner of the art of the short story, presenting her complete short fiction for the first time in a single volume, spanning four decades, from 1964 to 2000. Several of the stories, like The Dower House at Kellynch, are set in Somerset and Dorset and reflect their author's intimate knowledge of the land and flora there, but their settings also range as far as Elba and Cappadocia. Taken as a whole, the stories reflect the social changes of the past forty years, by showing the English at home and abroad. In 'The Gifts of War', peace-protesting students clash with a mother buying a toy for her son, with tragic consequences. An Englishman on honeymoon has a brief but significant epiphany, finding a shared humanity with a Moroccan crowd in 'Hassan's Tower'. Their protagonists are men and women, husbands and lovers, television presenters and housewives, all subtly and precisely captured as products of their time and place. In his introduction, Spanish scholar Jos Francisco Fern ndez celebrates the 'pure and simple pleasure to be found in reading these survivalist, questioning, belligerently intense short stories'.

Its virtues - a bright, crowded canvas, warmth, a witty, polished style - are those of Wilson's novels .

It is the Swinging Sixties, and Rosamund Stacey is young and inexperienced at a time when sexual liberation is well on its way. She conceals her ignorance beneath a show of independence, and becomes pregnant as a result of a one night stand.

The love of place is endemic in English literature, from the work of the earliest poets and hermits to the suburban celebrations of John Betjeman, covering all varieties of the British rural and urban landscape. This book presents an image of Britain as seen by writers of different regions and periods.

Humphrey and Ailsa meet as children by a grey, northern sea. Humphrey is quiet, serious - and will in time explore the sea's mysteries; Ailsa is angry, a freckled cobra ready to strike. Yet they fascinate one another and when they meet again years later they fall briefly - and disastrously - in love.

Set in 18th century Korea and the present day, Margaret Drabble's The Red Queen is a rich and atmospheric novel about love, and what it means to be remembered.200 years after being plucked from obscurity to marry the Crown Prince of Korea, the Red Queen's ghost decides to set the record straight about her extraordinary existence - and Dr Babs Halliwell, with her own complicated past, is the perfect envoy. Why does the Red Queen pick Babs to keep her story alive, and what else does she want from her? A terrific novel set in 18th century Korea and the present day, The Red Queen is a rich and atmospheric novel about love, and what it means to be remembered'Elegant . . . a seductive beguiling narrator . . . delicious history' Daily Express'One of our foremost women writers' Guardian'Carefully wrought and beautifully written The Red Queen is another fine addition to the Drabble oeuvre' Literary ReviewMargaret Drabble was born in 1939 in Sheffield, Yorkshire, the daughter of barrister and novelist John F. Drabble, and sister of novelist A.S. Byatt. She is the author of eighteen novels and eight works of non-fiction, including biographies of Arnold Bennett and Angus Wilson. Her many novels include The Radiant Way (1987), A Natural Curiosity (1989), The Gates of Ivory (1991), The Peppered Moth (2000), The Seven Sisters (2002) and The Red Queen (2004) all of which are published by Penguin. In 1980, Margaret Drabble was made a CBE and in 2008 she was made DBE. She is married to the biographer Michael Holroyd, and lives in London and Somerset.

'Den forgyldte baby' er historien om Anna med det lysende glade smil, hendes mor Jess og det samfund, der omslutter dem. Da Anna er to år, finder hendes mor imidlertid ud af, at barnet ikke er som andre børn ... Men historien begynder ved den afrikanske sø, hvor de ubekymrede unger med de sammenvoksede tæer - 'hummerklo-børnene' - leger. Her indledes eventyret, og herfra skulle det være fortsat for Jess, den purunge studerende, men sådan går det ikke, da Professoren kommer ind i hendes liv. "Resultatet er en glimrende roman, der bekræfter Drabbles status som en meget stor forfatter." Daily Mail

'Den forgyldte baby' er historien om Anna med det lysende glade smil, hendes mor Jess og det samfund, der omslutter dem. Da Anna er to år, finder hendes mor imidlertid ud af, at barnet ikke er som andre børn ... Men historien begynder ved den afrikanske sø, hvor de ubekymrede unger med de sammenvoksede tæer - 'hummerklo-børnene' - leger. Her indledes eventyret, og herfra skulle det være fortsat for Jess, den purunge studerende, men sådan går det ikke, da Professoren kommer ind i hendes liv."Resultatet er en glimrende roman, der bekræfter Drabbles status som en meget stor forfatter." Daily Mail