'The emotional withdrawal proposed to us in The Radiant Way is truly radical . This novel is a valuable specimen of a new consciousness' - New York Times 'A sublime example of Drabble's mastery in unravelling the intricacies of intimate relationships' - The Times 'Humane, intelligent, engrossing' - Independent 'An important book - entertaining, sad, witty, lively, dense with detail' - Evening Standard 'The novels brim with sharply observed life and the author's seemingly infinite sympathy for ordinary women' - New Yorker 'In Britain, Drabble tells us, ambition and idealism are damned equally. The women survive, detached from the world they were so engaged in a decade earlier. The men do worse . Drabble surrounds her chilling message - violent disintegration lurks just under the surface - with all kinds of skilful social detail . when she takes off into her own elegant figures and jumps, she puts on quite a show' - LA Times.