'Her bright, insouciant debut novel . joined the strengths of old-school realism with the playful detachment and blatant mythmaking of postmodernism' - New Yorker 'Her book . has considerable humour, urbanity and intelligence' - Kirkus Reviews 'Praise for Margaret Drabble: One of the most thought-provoking and intellectually challenging writers around' - Financial Times 'I have learned so much from Margaret Drabble's work. Her prose is very beautiful, very funny, and at the same time very serious. Novels like The Millstone and Jerusalem the Golden have helped me to understand what great writing can be' - SALLY ROONEY 'Margaret Drabble's early novels were intimate and sprightly chronicles of the small dissatisfactions and small triumphs of young women like herself' - HILARY MANTEL 'One of the most versatile and accomplished authors of her generation' - New Yorker.